COVID-19 vaccine access for seniors in Pennsylvania: Local resources are available Pennsylvanians who are 65 and older are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine. The Area Agency on Aging and PACE can help set up vaccination appointments and transportation. Share Updated: 4:41 PM EST Feb 11, 2021 COVID-19 vaccine access for seniors in Pennsylvania: Local resources are available Pennsylvanians who are 65 and older are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine. The Area Agency on Aging and PACE can help set up vaccination appointments and transportation. Share Updated: 4:41 PM EST Feb 11, 2021 Hide Transcript Show Transcript Let me just start by saying, we all know that here in Pennsylvania, we need to do better and we are doing. We're working on that very hard. Uh, sometimes you gotta take into account the comparisons that are made with other states. It's hard to make these comparisons when it comes to vaccine distribution, because every state is different and we all have different challenges. Just like every community in Pennsylvania has different challenges. But just as an example, Pennsylvania has a a larger percentage of older Pennsylvania's older Americans than almost any other state in the country. I think we're second or third in the country in terms of our percentage of population who are older adults. Um, but we still receive analogy ation from the federal government based on our overall population. Eso we get about we get a little over 300,000 doses now a week on, which is which is great, But that's for all of Pennsylvania. That's taking into account that every Pennsylvania is just one person, but we don't get yet have enough vaccine in Pennsylvania to make our make enough available for for the population that's in the one a category that includes people 65 older, a Zavala's frontline healthcare workers on people in nursing homes, long term care facilities. Um, but just the number of people, uh, in that category is over four million, and that makes that would be, if it were a separate state, would be sort of in the middle of the pack would be larger than many states in the United States. So that's those were some of the challenges among the challenges we face, but there's no excuse. We still need to make better progress. We need to do better to make sure that that way get this rollout of vaccines is efficiently, fairly and effectively as we possibly can. We're making progress with us. We have more than 1.5 million vaccines have gone out already to over 1.1 million Pennsylvanians. That's 1st and 2nd doses. In some cases. Restricted supply of vaccine means that we need to work harder, though, and we need to keep working harder to make sure that our vaccine distribution actually is working for Pennsylvania's. Just this week, we're doing things to do that. Just this week, we launched the your Turn vaccine eligibility tool to help improve our vaccine distribution process. With this tool, people who are not yet eligible for the vaccine can sign up to get a notification when they can be eligible. Um, this is an important way for the Commonwealth to improve communication with residents about the availability of the vaccine and which distribution phase each Pennsylvanian falls into. And we're constantly changing, constantly reevaluating our process to find better ways to make it work. For Pennsylvanians, an important part of improving our process is thoughtfully highlighting best practices, success stories from around the state and trying to find ways to replicate those successes in other parts of the Commonwealth. We know that every community, as I said in Pennsylvania, has unique challenges and needs. But we can learn a lot from listening to one another and lifting up creative, community based solutions, things that have actually worked in parts of Pennsylvania that in mind this presentation today this press conference is an effort to highlight some of the community based solutions that air working in secretary tours is gonna talk about some of those things, things that are working right now throughout the Commonwealth. Adults, 65 years and older are eligible once again for the cove in 19 vaccine. And older adults can work with health care providers in their communities right now to make appointments with those providers. When they received doses of vaccine, older adults in the long term care facilities were getting the vaccine through the facility where they live and through the federal pharmacy partnership. But there are thousands of other Pennsylvanians 65 older who live on their own or in senior housing and other settings that don't qualify them for the long term care vaccine program. For whatever reason, we also know that for older adults who don't have access to the Internet, it could be a really challenging thing to go online to find providers in their area who have received the vaccine. And it's even more challenging to navigate some of the online appointment portals. While many older adults heavy friend or a relative who can help them set up an appointment, some really don't know where to turn for help. Getting older adults connected to vaccine providers, therefore, is really critical, really important for us. How well someone can use the Internet should not determine when they get vaccinated. Older adults who have questions about vaccine availability in their community. Questions about how to make an appointment can call the Department of Health hotline at 18777243258 to get help. But we know we need to do more. We know that folks need help getting appointments. They need help with transportation. They need help when it comes to answering questions, and they need help when it comes to providing reassurance. There's some creative solutions to these problems that the state's partners air providing through coordination with Against secretary tours, Department of Aging on. He's joining me today, and he's gonna be outlining what his agency and his partner their partners are doing to help older adults navigate the vaccine process by using relationships that already exist in communities all across the Commonwealth. The Department of Aging can marshal its resource is to provide more assistance to older adults on a local level and secretary tours. We're just going to share some of these success stories. Community based solutions like these are being developed every day, and my administration is working every day to try to make sure we have better solutions. We'll continue to lift up successes so that communities across the Commonwealth can learn from one another. But we can expect a cookie cutter approach again. Every community is different, and the solutions that work in Butler County may not work as well in Luzerne County. But we can overcome the challenges before us by improving collaboration and coordination, and we should leverage the knowledge and experience of the people who know their communities best. So the local footprint, the local relationships, the local connections really do matter. So I want to thank the staff of the Department of Agency Aging and all of the area agencies on aging for their tireless work. Thank you to our long term care ombudsman, Margaret Borras, for her work and the work of all Pennsylvania supporting and helping our older adult population. Thank you to all who are stepping up to address a crucial need in their communities. Your work is saving lives in your work can show us the way to a better process for all Pennsylvania. So now I'm really proud to turn this over to Secretary Robert Tourist, Secretary of Aging Robert. Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon. I'm pleased to join Governor Wolf to talk about what the Department of Aging and the area agencies on aging are doing to help older adults in obtaining their vaccine. Pennsylvania's older adults have faced many challenges throughout this pandemic, and we recognize the current frustration and anxiety older adults are experiencing as they await and open appointment for vaccine or attempt to locate one. Since the first case of Cove in 19 was announced, area agencies on aging have helped to ensure the needs of older adults are being met. Now, thes agencies and their community partners are responding to the call toe help older adults through this latest challenge, depending on each agency's capacity and resource is, they are providing connections and support in a variety of ways, such as coordinating with their local health care providers, county government and Emergency Management agency, providing guidance and support, assisting with scheduling, arranging transportation, offering senior centers to serve US vaccine clinics and participating in County Cove in 19 planning permissions. This is labor intensive work. This is person to person work, so it requires patients on everyone's part. Still, we are seeing some good examples of how steady teamwork and collaboration at the community level can make a difference. One model for this kind of teamwork is happening in Butler County. The Butler County Area Agency on Aging participates on a covert 19 planning commission for Butler County, which is comprised of health care providers, local government and others. Bullock County Area Agency on Aging has been helping older adults with scheduling vaccination appointments through their local hospital health system. They have helped over 1200 older adults get appointments and also help arrange transportation when needed. One of the reasons this works is that the agency is informed by the health system on how much vaccine is allocated for older adults on a weekly basis, and our updated on a daily basis of appointments open up that they could take advantage of. But the county area agency on aging schedules accordingly and ensure that forms are completed in the system for older adults. As a result of these efforts, they have been able to achieve a 0% no show rate, meaning no one has missed their appointment since senior community centers or temporarily closed during the pandemic. Senior community center workers have been enlisted toe work on this initiative. The workers keep older adults updated, updated on their vaccines on when they're vaccine supply will be available. Make appointments called to remind them of their vaccine appointment called to see how they are feeling after the vaccination and remind them off their booster appointment. Butler County Area Agency on Aging is also assisting with vaccination efforts in 17 senior high rise apartment buildings. They ensure that the provider registration forms is completed and help administratively by identifying individuals on each floor who requested the vaccine. This helps the health personnel to swiftly and efficiently get the vaccine into arms. Butler staff then monitors for any adverse reaction during the 15 minute observation period and notifies a waiting ambulance service of any serious issues that arise. Butler story is inspiring, and while it may be unique, it is worth sharing us a success story. There are also other area agencies on aging that are in their planning and developing their efforts. A good example of southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging, which covers Washington, Fayette and Green counties. Southwestern has been serving on their local covert 19 task force. Now they're focusing on assisting all the older adults who have problems navigating the Web who don't have a computer. They're also working with their local pen dot shared ride program to ensure a free ride for every adult who needs to get to their vaccine appointment. Just as importantly, they're working with their local health system toe. Let older adults know that transportation is available. In addition to the efforts happening at the local level, the Department of Aging it's leveraging its community. Telecommunication and counseling Resource is in two statewide programs that many older adults already know. Use and trust pace Pennsylvania's Pharmaceutical Assistance Benefit for older adults. It's about to launch a comprehensive assistance and outreach effort to its 275,000 enrollees toe Help Obtain vaccines Pace has designated a team of phone operators in his Harrisburg call center to serve as a cove in 19 Special Scheduling Unit, a dedicated unit for arranging vaccinations for pace cardholders. Thes operators will also be working with cardholders to arrange transportation to the vaccination site or eventually work with pace with the Pace Pharmacy network members to vaccinate a cardholder at a cardholder's residents if that's necessary. Paces Clinical Team is also working to identify any pace member who is at high risk based on their medical history and will be reaching out to them. In the meantime, pace cardholders can't contact 1 800 22572 to 3 if they have any questions or need assistance for older adults who don't have access to a computer. The Pennsylvania Link Toe Aging and Disability Resource is, which connects older adults and adults with disabilities to needed long term services and supports, is also stepping up to take calls and offer assistance. When people call the P a link for help with getting a vaccine p a link, counselors will assess the caller situation, offer guidance and transfer them to a scheduling team for those callers with transportation needs, the link counselors will also be able to contact P a link partners and area agencies on aging at the local level to assist with coordinating transportation. The PPA link number is 1 800 75388 to 7. There's a lot of good work going on, but there's much more to be done because as governor will have said, we don't yet have all the vaccines we need in the meantime, we will continue to build upon, improve and support successful models such as the ones that I have shared with you that demonstrate how collaboration at the community level can make a difference. Our department and the area agencies on aging have adapted throughout this pandemic, and we will continue to work together and position ourselves to further help older adults as additional vaccines become available. And finally, I want to thank our department staff and the area agencies on aging for their leadership and responsiveness in support of Pennsylvania seniors throughout this pandemic. Thank you. And now I will turn it over to Sarah DeLay for questions. Thank you very much, Secretary Torres. So we're gonna begin our questions. I would like to ask each reporter to ask just one follow up today because we do have a lot of reporters on the cost. We want to try to get to as many as we can. So our first reporter today is Jamie Bittner from Fox 40. Excuse me, Fox 43. You should be able to un mute Jamie. Thank you for holding this today. I have a question regarding how you're making this a little bit more easier for seniors as faras, specifically those clogged phone lines and that website itself. Is there any improvements that are being made to help clear up those phone lines or to improve that website to make it more user friendly? Um, for seniors? Yeah, Jamie, that's a great question. Way have a lot of work to do to improve that, Uh, the, uh there. There are too many people who, uh, call can't get on. Uh, can't get anyone to answer. Uh, websites that are clogged up. We need to do a better job eso way are doing it. We're constantly changing. Just made some major changes to the website yesterday, and we'll continue to look for ways to improve that. I think we have to do a much better job. Keep in mind, though, uh, that that the chief constraint right now is the supply right now in the one a category we have is I said over four million people. And, uh, if you assume that each one at this point before the Johnson and Johnson vaccine comes out, they need two doses. That's eight million doses over eight million doses. We need to be able to administer. So far, Pennsylvania has received a little over two million doses. So even if we were doing a perfect job and again, we are not. And you point out one of the problems right now is that just a lot more demand than there is supply? But even if we were doing a perfect job, you'd still be left holding that that main constraint that three quarters of the people who right now, three quarters the vaccines that are needed right now in Pennsylvania this minute. Right now we don't have. I think the federal government is doing a really good job of ramping that process up. I think Dr Fast, you just mentioned today that that the federal government has a new, more expansive, uh, target in terms of getting, uh, vaccines out enough for everybody by the end of April. But way still have to do a better job here in Pennsylvania. And that is one of the areas that we're working really hard. Do you have a follow up, Jamie? Okay. Okay. We'll keep moving along. Next. We have Dennis Ellen's from ABC 27. Go ahead, Dennis. Hello, Governor. Thank you for doing it. one. You're in the process. We Bye. We're having trouble hearing you. Dennis, You can't hear me. Dennis will try to come back to you. Okay, Next we have Barbara Barr from W J. L. So go ahead, Barbara. Thank you, Governor and Secretary, there seems to be a lot of options out there for seniors, but I'm wondering if you think that there is one best option for a senior, particularly one who may not be computer savvy to try to make an appointment at this point at this point, that that's that's the question that I think the secretary talked about at the area. Agencies on aging are really trying to step up and make sure that that seniors have a lot more options than they have right now. I mean, just getting a call through is one, but transportation understanding what the what the different options are, I think are part of it. So even once we get fully to a point where we're really hitting on all cylinders and we're not, when we get to that point, we're still gonna need all these other services. And I think that's you wanna add to that Governor. Thank you One of the things that we're doing on Guy could tell you. Area agencies are helping in in one way we have older adults that we support and our consumers in our database. So some of the counties are providing the list off consumers that they serve to health, health, health care organizations, toe help with scheduling and reaching out proactively. I think that's one of the things that you're going to see moving forward are our pace program will also be doing the same thing, will be proactively reaching out. But I would encourage older adults who need some support. If you don't have a family, a relative that can help please feel free to call your county area agency on aging. There's 52 of them across Pennsylvania that served the whole commonwealth, and we'll be happy toe to support you. But there is a lot of good work being being done and sharing information proactively is part of that. So hopefully we can we can reduce the frustration and the strain on our hotlines and just a quick follow to that, and you may be best answer it, um, you mentioned Butler County is an example but are Do you feel that all of those area agencies on aging are up to speed and and are beginning to reach out? And have you contacted them? I mean, with the area agencies on aging every Monday morning. I've been doing that since the beginning of the pandemic, and part of what I'm I'm looking at is I'm providing information. I'm also getting information from them as to what's happening across Pennsylvania. So the answer is there. They have different level of capacities. We have our largest area Agency on Aging in Philadelphia to some, some small ones in in the smaller counties that perhaps don't have as much capacity. But some of the discussions were currently having is, you know, what support do they need to to ramp up and position ourselves to to again proactively be able to support the Commonwealth. A zoo officially as possible once we