Tulsa Group Helps Seniors Schedule COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments

Since the pandemic, Life Senior Services in Tulsa has served a record number of seniors, and with the recent vaccine release, that number is increasing.

"Many seniors either don't know how to use technology, don't have internet, don't have email,” President and CEO Eileen Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said their mission has always been about taking care of the needs of seniors and that hasn’t changed since the vaccine rollout.

Life Senior Services was averaging about 80 calls a day. However, since the vaccine, they've averaged around 2,000 calls a day.

Bradshaw said seniors will call their hotline, in which they help them answer a series of questions on the State's portal.

"Once they are registered, then we would go back on the portal and try to get them an appointment,” Bradshaw said.

The most they've scheduled in one day was almost 100 seniors. Bradshaw said due to the high call volume, more people have to leave messages. 

"We had a generous gift to allow us to hire extra folks to help people get registered, so it's an all-hands-on deck situation,” Bradshaw said.

Before COVID-19, the organization served around 30,000 seniors a year, and with that number rising, Bradshaw said it might be a while until this dust settles.

"Wish we had a magic wand to make an appointment for everybody in one day, but I am completely convinced with patience, we are going to get everyone the vaccine,” Bradshaw said.

If you are a senior or know someone who needs help registering for the vaccine, click here.