After a rocky start to Lyon County Public Health’s COVID hotline waitlist effort Tuesday morning, Public Health has implemented a new tool to help get residents 65 and older on the COVID vaccination waitlist.
Public health is now utilizing a mass email service system known as MailChimp to that end. Flint Hills Community Health Center CEO Renee Hively says the new tool is mainly for those residents 65 and older who are eligible for vaccinations as part of phase two of the county’s vaccination process.
According to Hively, they made an adjustment to the system so Public Health could “gather the 65 and older demographic” and place them on their master waitlist.
Hively says those under the age of 65 will not be added to the waitlist through the email service at this time but will still receive notifications.
Hively says MailChimp is a tool the health center was planning to use in the future, but given the crush of calls FHCHC received Tuesday, more than 1,200 to be exact, the decision was made to move forward a bit sooner.
An open pod for senior citizens as part of Lyon County’s Phase 2 vaccination process is coming from 9 am to 6 pm Friday at the Bowyer Community Building. Five hundred vaccines are now available and Hively says there are still some slots available, however, she expects those to be filled by the end of business hours Wednesday.
In total, Hively says the waitlist now has more than 1,500 names on it and she expects that number will continue to grow. With that in mind and the limited number of vaccines available at this time, Hively asks residents to remain patient as they continue to work through the process.
Hively says the email system is a separate tool from the health center’s online scheduling link used for the first two open pods last month as the email does not allow you to link directly into the pod scheduling system like the online link did. To sign up for the mailing list visit Public Health’s website, Facebook page or click here.