The homebound across Franklin County and beyond will soon start receiving their COVID-vaccines and won’t have to worry about leaving the comfort and safety of their homes.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced this week the Homebound Vaccination Program, which will begin Monday, and according to Greenfield resident Al Norman, who lobbied for the elderly in Massachusetts for 38 years, the homebound elderly and disabled have worried for nearly two months that they were forgotten. He said he hopes trying to vaccinate 25,000 homebound people across the state doesn’t cause another bottleneck in the vaccine system.
“These people are probably used to being at the bottom of the deck,” but they should have been among the first served because many of them are elderly with compromised health conditions,” Norman said.
The state’s criteria for being considered homebound is that the person must need a two-person assist to leave their home, be unable to leave their home for routine appointments or need an ambulance to get to appointments.
“That’s absurd criteria,” Norman said. “If elders, disabled can’t get to vaccine shots, we must get the vaccines to them.”
Franklin Regional Council of Governments Emergency Preparedness Program Manager Tracy Rogers said the county’s public health nurses have been doing some homebound vaccines and planning continues to come up with a more expansive plan.
She said the state is requiring more restrictive criteria than local public health officials would have like to have seen, so they aren’t quite sure how that will be handled at this point. She said homebound Franklin County residents will be kept informed as time goes on.
FRCOG is talking with its partners to discuss who might be able to help get the homebound vaccinated and how those who can leave their homes with a little help can get transportation. LifePath is helping by screening and registering people who are homebound for their vaccines.
The Homebound Vaccination Program will operate mainly through local boards of health. To register, call 844-771-1628 or check with local boards.
Seniors call LifePath at 413-829-9285 for help scheduling an appointment, arranging transportation or if they are homebound and need someone to come to them with a vaccine starting Monday.
Reach Recorder reporter Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.