0:00

Hi, I'm Caroline Amos.

0:01

And I'm Raymond McAnally.

0:03

And we are

0:03

Fatigued. Before we begin this

0:16

whole story, I just want to say

0:16

after reading the article about

0:18

you in the New York Times, the

0:18

Fred Rogers quote came to mind,

0:23

look for the helpers. I just

0:23

think that what you're doing is

0:25

so special. And Harriet, tell us

0:25

more about you what's going on.

0:31

My name is

0:31

Harriet Diamantidis. And I have

0:33

been volunteering, signing the

0:33

elderly up for the COVID

0:37

vaccine, so that they can get

0:37

vaccinated for any elderly

0:41

person who is not familiar with

0:41

the internet.

0:45

You absolute Angel,

0:46

You nailed that summary!

0:48

Oh, I was just gonna say Did I or not?

0:50

No, that was great.

0:51

I was awkward a little bit.

0:53

No, you're good.

0:55

So I'm from

0:55

Rockaway Beach, Queens. I don't

0:58

know if you guys have ever been

0:58

there. But it's a little town in

1:01

Queens that usually most people

1:01

haven't heard of, although now

1:05

it's more popular. And I grew up

1:05

there, and my grandparents would

1:11

stay with us every summer. And

1:11

it's really my grandmother who

1:15

inspired this journey for me.

1:15

And so I was signing her up for

1:20

the COVID vaccine. And if you've

1:20

ever called My grandmother on

1:25

the phone, it's it's hilarious,

1:25

because she can barely use the

1:29

phone. So you sort of have to,

1:29

you know, announce who you are

1:33

about 13 to hide, you know,

1:33

cutely hang up on you about, you

1:38

know, five times. She's the best!

1:42

And is that just like a switch to cell phones kind of thing?

1:46

Something

1:46

like that. Exactly. So as I was

1:49

signing her up for the vaccine

1:49

online, I said, I couldn't help

1:54

but think about all the other

1:54

people in her age category. And,

1:59

you know, how are they going to

1:59

maneuver through this online?

2:03

You know, phase and you know, if

2:03

she can't work her landline? How

2:08

was she? How is anybody going to

2:08

figure out this process online?

2:11

And, you know, people in her age

2:11

category are obviously most at

2:15

risk for COVID. And I started

2:15

thinking about all the elderly

2:20

people, what were they going to

2:20

do and the baby boomers, you

2:24

know, they use the internet, but

2:24

they're obviously, you know, not

2:27

as good at it as you know,

2:27

someone like me, or you are and

2:31

so I just

2:32

I don't know,

2:32

I know, I know, 40 year olds, 20

2:35

year olds can use the internet

2:35

very well.

2:39

It's a

2:39

challenge. And so that's really

2:42

what inspired all of this for

2:42

me. And so I made a post on

2:45

Facebook and instantly, so many

2:45

people from all ages wanted

2:50

advice and needed help. And

2:50

that's really how all of this

2:53

got started.

2:56

So you sent it

2:56

out initially to your circle of

2:59

friends, or was there already

2:59

some group that was for this?

3:03

So I am a

3:03

member of a bunch of public

3:07

groups on Facebook, from my

3:07

hometown of Rockaway Beach, to

3:11

the town that I currently live

3:11

in to the Upper East Side, mom's

3:16

group on Facebook. So naively, I

3:16

posted it in about seven

3:22

Facebook groups that had, you

3:22

know, a total of like, 100,000

3:26

members, and I really didn't

3:26

think that so many people would

3:30

reach out to me, Oh, my God, I

3:30

only thought, you know, maybe 10

3:34

people would need help, but

3:34

right away, tons and tons of

3:38

people. I was overwhelmed with

3:38

how many people needed help. And

3:42

of course, I didn't want to not

3:42

help anybody. So right away, you

3:47

know, Nico, and I Nico's my

3:47

husband, we were up till two in

3:50

the morning, you know, helping

3:50

people. And that's really how

3:53

this all got started. You know,

3:53

you don't want to turn anybody

3:55

away. Because it's, it's really,

3:55

you know, a life or death

3:58

situation for some people.

4:00

No kidding. Yeah.

4:00

Well, when when did all this

4:03

start? How long ago? Did you

4:03

start doing this?

4:05

So on

4:05

January 10, I made my post that

4:08

was the night before you could

4:08

start making appointments. And

4:12

that was my grandma's 96. So I

4:12

obviously, you know, for her if

4:16

she got COVID, it could be a

4:16

deadly situation. Oh, yeah.

4:20

reading all about what you

4:20

needed to do and what the

4:23

process was to get the

4:23

appointment. So in a sense, I

4:27

was a little bit ahead of the

4:27

curve. Because I was reading,

4:30

you know, where did you need to

4:30

go? What were the websites?

4:33

What, you know, what was the

4:33

eligibility requirements? Where

4:36

were you able to get an

4:36

appointment? So I was reading

4:40

what forms Did you need to fill

4:40

out? So a lot of people, you

4:43

know, didn't know that

4:43

information yet. I was sort of

4:46

obsessively reading about it.

4:46

And so January 11, is when you

4:50

could get online and make an

4:50

appointment. So midnight, I was

4:54

there on the internet, getting

4:54

her an appointment. So January

4:57

11 is when anybody 70 Five and

4:57

above could start booking

5:01

appointments. And so that

5:01

between January 11, and January

5:06

14, is when we were booking

5:06

appointments for people. And on

5:10

January 14, that's when the

5:10

vaccine shortage hit. And after

5:14

that, it was near impossible.

5:14

That's when appointments are to

5:19

get cancelled. And that's when

5:19

appointments are to get

5:22

rescheduled. And from that point

5:22

onward, it's been near

5:27

impossible for people to get

5:27

appointments to this very day.

5:30

We have barely been able to help

5:30

people because it's near

5:34

impossible to get an appointment.

5:36

Because I

5:36

believe the couple that was

5:38

featured, I believe in both the

5:38

New York Times article and your

5:42

segment with Lester Holt the

5:42

Goldberg Goldberg Yeah, it was a

5:47

situation where it was some sort

5:47

of last minute they they had

5:54

extra vaccine or something. I

5:54

don't quite remember the

6:00

logistics of that. Was that just

6:00

too simple? We got you an

6:03

appointment. Here's where you

6:03

show up, or was that something

6:06

new caused by the shortage?

6:08

So they

6:08

were concerned that their

6:11

appointment might get canceled?

6:11

Luckily for them, there's didn't

6:15

but ironically, my mother and

6:15

grandmother's appointments got

6:19

cancelled and rescheduled

6:21

because of the

6:21

shortage, the shortage?

6:23

No, that's

6:23

the irony is that I the first

6:27

people I got appointments for

6:27

were my mom and grandmother and

6:30

their appointments got cancelled

6:30

and rescheduled. The Goldbergs

6:33

were very concerned that there's

6:33

get cancelled, but they they

6:37

didn't. I think what you're

6:37

referring to, though, is that

6:40

some sites have had vaccines

6:40

that were about to expire. So

6:47

when a vaccine is about to

6:47

expire, because sometimes, you

6:51

know, they have to be kept cold

6:51

up until a certain point and

6:54

when there are no expire, some

6:54

sites will use those vaccines

6:58

and open up the eligibility to

6:58

anybody at age that can get

7:03

there within the timeframe.

7:05

That is what I'm thinking about. Because here in Los Angeles, that is a big

7:06

deal. We are at least our county

7:11

protocols, I'm not sure if it's

7:11

statewide or not. They are

7:16

simply age restricted. So it

7:16

doesn't matter if you have a pre

7:19

existing condition, it doesn't

7:19

matter. Anything other than age.

7:24

So folks who are severely

7:24

immunocompromised in their

7:28

20s 30s 40s, they're going to be

7:28

waiting quite a while unless we

7:32

figure out a way to to speed

7:32

this up.

7:35

See, I

7:35

think in New York, they are

7:37

opening up that eligibility to

7:37

people who are compromised this

7:41

week, not this week, next week

7:41

on the 15th February 15. I read

7:45

that they're opening up that

7:45

February 15. So hopefully, Los

7:49

Angeles or California will be

7:52

coming up. So

7:52

I think everybody's figuring it

7:55

out on the local level. But

7:55

that's what I love that you're

7:59

so informed because you've been

7:59

so kind of in the middle of all

8:03

this, that's I can relate quite

8:03

a bit to that instinct of I grew

8:10

up around a lot of older adults,

8:10

my parents were 40 when I was

8:14

born. And so with the

8:14

technology, especially like I I

8:20

would love to have a technology

8:20

conversation with my mom now

8:23

because she's no longer with us.

8:23

But at the time, it could push

8:27

my buttons, so she never

8:27

understood the concept of the

8:29

internet. She thought it was on

8:29

her computer. She thought her

8:33

Gmail on her phone was a

8:33

different Gmail. I used to have

8:37

to remind myself all the time

8:37

that that this is a person who,

8:42

despite being highly

8:42

intelligent, like she, she was

8:46

born in 1939. She remembers she

8:46

remembers calling and telling

8:52

the operator what phone number

8:52

you want to call, you know what

8:56

person in town you want to call.

8:56

I even have some old letters of

9:00

her because she was um, she was

9:00

Miss Tennessee. And so yeah, and

9:05

so we have all these in 1958

9:05

sheet, we have all these

9:09

wonderful letters from around

9:09

the country. And even some

9:12

international that all it said

9:12

was her name. And her street

9:17

address and the town. There was

9:17

no zip code. We can't even

9:23

imagine that level of like so

9:23

from going from that. And your

9:27

your grandmother's would be 14

9:27

years older than my mom would be

9:33

today. So these folks have seen

9:33

some major major changes, so I

9:39

don't fault them for not being

9:39

up with times. I know

9:43

my mom once

9:43

asked me, you know, I told her,

9:46

you know, she had to go into the

9:46

app store to you know, buy

9:49

something for her phone. And she

9:49

was like, Well, where is that?

9:52

Is that on Avenue? You in

9:52

Brooklyn? You know? Yeah, I

9:59

would always laugh Her but I

9:59

think in COVID times, now, I

10:03

almost, you know, feel sorry for

10:03

them. Because now, you know, it

10:07

always was funny. And now in a

10:07

time like this, it's, it's

10:11

actually a crisis, you know. And

10:11

so

10:14

it's actually

10:14

it's a matter of life or death

10:16

right now, actually. And it's

10:16

really, really a scary time to

10:20

be thinking about those things.

10:20

Thank God that your grandma and

10:23

your mom have you.

10:25

I know. But you know, they'll tell you that I'm a real pain most of the time

10:26

was not a pain.

10:37

It's really encouraging to hear you talk about, you know, wanting to take

10:38

care of your grandma wanting to

10:41

take care of your mom, when you

10:41

were doing the research to get

10:45

them the vaccine, where do you begin?

10:48

So I really

10:48

began online. But what I would

10:53

tell you is that a lot of

10:53

misinformation is out there. And

10:58

so I've learned that a lot of

10:58

what I read was incorrect. So

11:02

I'll give you an example. I was

11:02

pre registering, I pre

11:07

registered, my mom and grandma

11:07

at first, and I learned

11:10

afterwards that there was no

11:10

need to pre register. So I found

11:14

a pre registration form on New

11:14

York State's website, and I

11:18

filled it out. And later I

11:18

learned No, you didn't need to

11:22

pre register. So that was a

11:22

misstep that I took you. So my

11:27

point is that there's so much

11:27

misinformation out there. And

11:32

part of that problem is that

11:32

nobody knows what's what, you

11:36

know, yeah, well out, you know,

11:36

you go on the site, you think

11:39

you're doing the right thing,

11:39

and you don't necessarily,

11:42

you're not necessarily doing the

11:42

right thing. Really, all I had

11:46

to do was go on the site and

11:46

search for an appointment, then

11:50

you go on Facebook, and you read

11:50

what people are saying. And for

11:55

example, one of one of the big

11:55

things was you, I thought you

12:00

could go anywhere to get an

12:00

appointment, you could travel

12:03

anywhere to get an appointment.

12:03

Apparently, that's not true. You

12:06

have to, you know, go within a

12:06

certain parameter to get an

12:10

appointment. And that's

12:10

parameter of like, of where you

12:14

are, where you live. So and

12:14

again, this is I'm not even sure

12:19

what the answer is. So when you

12:19

go online, and you Google and

12:23

you read articles, you I

12:23

understood it, that you could go

12:28

anywhere, you could travel

12:28

anywhere to get an appointment.

12:30

So if you live in Long Island, I

12:30

thought you could go anywhere to

12:35

get an appointment, whether that means Manhattan, or

12:38

Manhattan, Queens. But now I'm

12:38

reading that if you live in Long

12:42

Island, you can only get a

12:42

vaccine within Long Island.

12:45

Whoa, how are

12:45

they are they checking if your

12:49

local resident through your ID

12:49

or

12:52

so at the

12:52

vaccine site, they check your

12:55

ID. So you would think that if

12:55

they're checking your ID, and

12:59

you you're able to get the

12:59

vaccine, that's okay. But

13:03

apparently, now I'm reading that

13:03

you can only go if you live

13:08

within the five boroughs, you

13:08

can only get a vaccine within

13:12

New York State five boroughs.

13:12

And if you live within Long

13:15

Island, you can only get a

13:15

vaccine within Long Island. And

13:21

there's so much confusion with

13:21

this rollout. And they really

13:26

believe that they should have

13:26

signs in every local department

13:31

store in every store with

13:31

instructions of where you need

13:35

to go and what you need to do.

13:35

And I believe they should have

13:37

commercials that are running

13:37

every half hour that are telling

13:41

people this is the website, this

13:41

is where you need to go. I think

13:45

that people don't know what

13:45

they're supposed to be doing.

13:48

And that's the problem. And they

13:48

call me. They don't know what

13:52

where to go or what to do. And

13:52

even me, and I read about it.

13:57

And I get confused myself

13:57

because I say, Oh, I thought

14:00

that you could go anywhere

14:00

within New York State. But you

14:03

can't

14:04

know if you

14:04

could. For our listeners, I know

14:09

you may not be the expert, but

14:09

you probably have a lot more

14:12

information that a lot of us do.

14:12

If you could maybe outline some

14:16

simple steps so people know

14:16

where to get started. I'm asking

14:19

selfishly because I'd like to

14:19

get started. So if

14:24

and again,

14:24

I've only recently learned these

14:27

new rules. If you live within

14:27

the five boroughs. You should go

14:33

on the NYC you should google

14:33

because it'll make it simpler.

14:37

The NYC vaccine finder and you

14:37

type in your zip code and a list

14:42

of locations will come up that

14:42

are closest to you. And you

14:46

click on the first the first

14:46

location that comes out. And

14:50

right then in there, it will

14:50

link you where you can click a

14:54

button. You can click a button

14:54

that will say schedule your

14:56

first dose and then from there

14:56

it will ask you You to certify

15:01

that you don't have allergies.

15:01

Because you know, obviously,

15:06

well, not obviously. But you may

15:06

have read in the news that if

15:10

you have severe allergies, you

15:10

could possibly have a reaction

15:13

to the COVID, right. So it will

15:13

ask you to certify if you have

15:17

any severe allergies, and then

15:17

you type in your name. And right

15:21

away, you can put in a zip code

15:21

and try to book an appointment.

15:26

My first tip to people is, if

15:26

you're not having luck with your

15:31

exact zip code, start looking

15:31

under other zip codes, I find

15:36

that that's helpful. I'm looking

15:36

under other zip codes, if you're

15:39

not finding anything under

15:39

yours, look under random towns,

15:44

I find that that sometimes

15:44

change it up. And just keep

15:48

going keep refreshing your page.

15:48

My other favorite tip is go

15:54

online at really random times.

15:54

Really, really early in the

15:59

morning or really, really late

15:59

at night, or at dinner time. Or

16:05

you want to compete with less

16:05

people. So if you look pending

16:09

in most people are looking for

16:09

an appointment at 10am 11am most

16:13

people are looking for an

16:13

appointment. But Saturday night

16:16

at eight o'clock most people are

16:16

out. Well not out but most

16:20

people are, you know, doing, you

16:20

know,

16:22

we can hope that

16:22

they're not out I mean, deadly

16:25

pandemic rather than

16:27

doing something other than looking for an appointment. So

16:30

this reminds

16:30

me of a friend of mine posted on

16:33

Super Bowl Sunday that like at

16:33

kickoff, she was at the grocery

16:37

store. And she posted a picture

16:37

that she'd been planning this

16:40

for weeks. Apparently she does

16:40

this every year that she goes to

16:43

the grocery store and Super Bowl

16:43

Sunday so she can have the whole

16:46

place to herself.

16:47

Exactly.

16:47

Exactly. So for example, that's

16:52

a great point during the

16:52

Superbowl, I was looking for

16:54

appointments, because I figured

16:54

so many people would be

16:56

preoccupied and I yeah,

16:58

that's great.

16:58

It's really interesting. I live

17:01

in a story. And I was reading

17:01

that if you want to secure any

17:05

sort of COVID test, the best

17:05

time to do it is at midnight,

17:11

because that's when the whole

17:11

thing refreshes. And now that

17:14

I've said this, everybody that

17:14

listens is going to take all my

17:16

spots to get COVID tests, and

17:16

that's totally fine. I just hope

17:19

everyone's being safe. Yep.

17:21

I've heard

17:21

a rumor that it's the same with

17:24

appointments. I've heard a rumor

17:24

that it's at midnight that they

17:28

refresh as well. Yeah.

17:29

Okay. That's a great tip.

17:32

Yeah, I really want to turn all of this into like an infographic and be like,

17:33

these are Harriet's tips for

17:38

getting vaccinated.

17:39

I've heard that they refresh at midnight. That's why sometimes I'll go on

17:42

at midnight or 2am. Although

17:45

lately, it's been impossible.

17:45

But Yep, midnight, 2am 5am. Go

17:52

on at random times when

17:52

everybody else is busy.

17:56

That is so great

17:56

to know. Your story is so unique

18:04

in that you have been taking

18:04

your time and energy and

18:07

resources to help other people.

18:07

And I think that's just so

18:12

phenomenal of you.

18:14

Yes.

18:15

Tell us a little

18:15

bit more about like, you know,

18:18

what goes in your head to do

18:18

something so, so selfless and

18:21

wonderful for other people.

18:24

To be

18:24

honest, you, both of you,

18:26

anybody would do the same when

18:26

you hear the people on the other

18:30

line, who call they are the

18:30

sweetest. When you hear these

18:36

elderly people on the other

18:36

line, I swear it's not me.

18:40

Anybody would do what I'm doing

18:40

here, how concerned they are.

18:46

And last and, you know, when you

18:46

when they call and I say you

18:52

know, what's your email address?

18:52

Or I'll say can you forward me

18:56

your verification email? And

18:56

they'll say, how do you forward

19:00

an email, you know, and they

19:00

don't know how to do it. And you

19:04

were I it's second nature, you

19:04

know, you know exactly how to

19:07

forward an email, it's to us,

19:07

it's the simplest thing. And if

19:11

I played you want to their

19:11

voicemails, anybody's heart

19:15

would just open up and when you

19:15

can make an appointment, it's

19:19

actually very simple. It's a

19:19

five minute process. If there

19:22

were appointments, it would take

19:22

anybody five minutes. It's very

19:26

simple. If there were

19:26

appointments, and so in the

19:29

beginning when I was doing this,

19:29

it really wasn't difficult. But

19:33

now it's difficult because

19:33

there's no appointments here

19:36

these elderly people,

19:39

it just

19:40

you guys

19:40

who both do it to anybody would

19:43

and there was someone I did it

19:43

for the other day. It was

19:46

snowing here in New York, I

19:46

think it was was it Saturday

19:49

where it was snowing.

19:51

I think it was Sunday. It was really really

19:53

and for a

19:53

while it was snowing pretty

19:55

heavy. And he works. He was an

19:55

elderly man and he attacked In

20:00

he didn't speak much English.

20:00

And he works in a in a cleaners,

20:05

and he had a lot of underlying

20:05

health issues. And he could he

20:08

spoke very broken English and he

20:08

got my number through somebody

20:12

else because a lot of it's word

20:12

of mouth. And he really needed

20:15

the vaccine, and I have a list

20:15

of people, but his case was so

20:21

dire that I sometimes when it's

20:21

a dire case, I kind of, you

20:25

know, I'll let them move up a

20:25

little bit. And I have no idea

20:29

how, but by the grace of God, I

20:29

got an appointment for him. And

20:34

it was 12 o'clock, and he was

20:34

able to get an appointment that

20:38

day for 2pm. But it was snowing

20:38

really hard. And his appointment

20:42

was far away from where he was

20:42

located. And, and I called him

20:46

and I told him, and I said, I

20:46

don't know, if you're, you know,

20:48

he was, I think he was he was at

20:48

two still working in a drive.

20:54

And I said, I don't know, if

20:54

you're gonna be able to get

20:56

there, because where he needed

20:56

to travel was over an hour away

20:59

in the snow. And he started

20:59

crying, he said, No, I'm gonna,

21:03

you know, in his broken English,

21:03

I'm gonna get there, I'm gonna

21:05

get there. And he got there in

21:05

the snow, there was like three

21:09

inches of snow on the ground.

21:09

And he'll always remember him, I

21:13

remember calling my mom and

21:13

saying, you know, I'll remember

21:17

this guy, and wonderful. And

21:17

then his daughter called me to

21:21

thank me. And it's the people

21:21

like that, who stick with you.

21:26

And like I said, I'm not doing

21:26

anything that anybody else

21:29

wouldn't do. When you hear those

21:29

people, and they have the health

21:32

conditions. And, and, you know,

21:32

that's why we're doing this,

21:37

because it's, it's the elderly,

21:37

and I really feel like, you

21:41

know, they took care of us, you

21:41

know, and if you have a

21:44

grandparent that, you know,

21:44

really was good to you. That's

21:49

why,

21:49

yeah, that's

21:49

what I pick up on just just

21:52

getting to know you, in this

21:52

conversation that, you know, you

21:56

come from a strong family and so

21:56

that there's a sense of an

21:58

extended family here that once

21:58

you talk to these people, they

22:03

they become people, they become

22:03

human. And just like your

22:07

family, you want to help them

22:07

it. There's also something else

22:11

you said about that. It's

22:11

they're finding you through word

22:15

of mouth. And that can be one of

22:15

the biggest logistical issues of

22:21

reaching people who have

22:21

technical problems is our normal

22:27

means of getting the word out

22:27

Facebook and and all these

22:30

things. They're not network to

22:30

it. They don't, their problem is

22:34

they don't know how to use it.

22:34

So how do you find them? I think

22:38

it's wonderful that you're

22:38

willing to put your personal

22:41

phone number out there, a whole

22:41

lot of people would would not be

22:44

comfortable with that step of

22:44

it. I just think I just think

22:48

it's so great. It reminds me of

22:48

I haven't even talked about it

22:54

here. But I work with 55 and

22:54

older volunteers here in Los

22:59

Angeles, I recruit and manage

22:59

help manage events for that

23:05

demographic, as part of a grant,

23:05

a national grant. And yeah, with

23:12

a nonprofit called Le works that

23:12

does amazing work. I love being

23:16

associated with this

23:16

organization. So I've

23:18

experienced to what you're

23:18

talking about with with you get

23:23

the person on the phone, and

23:23

maybe you've gotten a

23:25

frustrating email, you know, an

23:25

email that sounds a little like,

23:29

whoa, I'm helping volunteers.

23:29

Why are you Why are you mad at

23:33

me? Right? And then you talk to

23:33

the person and you realize it's

23:37

just they're just so frustrated.

23:37

I don't know. We're recording

23:41

this on February 10. And the

23:41

biggest viral video of

23:45

yesterday, which gave me so much

23:45

joy was the lawyer couldn't get

23:49

the cat filter.

23:51

On my god that

23:51

guy was so funny.

23:55

It is I want

23:55

to use it when I teach it is a

23:57

study it is a study in perfect

23:57

timing. And it just like

24:01

everything from the from the cat

24:01

face looking down at the very

24:04

beginning and exasperation to

24:04

this little sigh he does at the

24:08

end he says he says I'm not a

24:08

cat. I'm just this like little

24:13

like frustrated. Almost

24:13

laughing. I hope you find this

24:17

funny to judge kind of laugh. Oh

24:17

my gosh, I've listened. I've

24:21

watched it and listen to it at

24:21

least 50

24:23

so darling.

24:26

But that's a

24:26

good example. A friend of mine

24:28

pointed out that's a great

24:28

example of like, a lot of

24:31

people's level of frustration

24:31

with technology right now, a

24:35

minute. It's funny that it can

24:35

filter in front of a judge, but

24:42

but it's that in a way that's

24:42

what you're dealing with. You're

24:46

dealing with folks who they get

24:46

on to do the simplest task to

24:50

forward an email and it shuts

24:50

down their computer. They don't

24:56

know what they pushed.

24:59

Oh my god. My, in

24:59

the past year of this pandemic,

25:03

I got both of my grandma's iPads

25:03

so they could FaceTime us. And

25:08

when I was home, I, you know,

25:08

the family, we presented my

25:12

grandma Norma with her iPad. And

25:12

I showed her how to plug it in

25:16

to charge it. And she came out

25:16

one night, and she said that the

25:21

plug isn't working, I can't, I

25:21

can't plug it into the charger.

25:25

And I said, Oh, and I came over

25:25

to it. And my grandma with Hulk

25:29

like strength had ripped the end

25:29

of the charger off. And it was

25:38

just lodged and stuck in her

25:38

iPad.

25:42

And how in the world

25:44

I don't know,

25:44

like, my sweet little grandma

25:47

was tinier than I am. And

25:47

gentler, you know, literally

25:50

wouldn't kill if Lee had ripped

25:50

the end of the charger off of

25:55

the I couldn't believe it. It

25:55

was so funny. But bless her,

25:59

thank god, she's living with my

25:59

parents right now. So they can

26:03

assist in all of her charging

26:03

needs. I don't want her to touch

26:06

another charger ever again.

26:12

We've mentioned it but we have you haven't explicitly said what

26:13

you're able to do now with

26:18

appointments being so hard to

26:18

find, or our guests are not up

26:22

back up and running? Have you?

26:22

Because nobody would fault you

26:27

for saying I did this for a

26:27

week? And then I was done? I

26:32

don't know if you're still doing

26:32

it. But it sounds like you are

26:34

what are you able to do now to

26:34

help people.

26:38

So I have a

26:38

lot of people who are messaging

26:40

me and calling me and through

26:40

word of mouth. You know, I get a

26:44

lot of messages on Facebook, or

26:44

you know, phone calls, I have a

26:48

few articles that were written.

26:48

And then the reporter will say,

26:52

you know, people are asking for

26:52

your phone number, can I give it

26:54

to them? And I say yes. And I

26:54

started off by telling every

26:57

person, it's very difficult

26:57

right? Now send me your

27:00

information. And I have an Excel

27:00

spreadsheet with all of their

27:04

info. And I look every single

27:04

day, it's very difficult. But

27:08

what I'm trying to do now what I

27:08

think the solution is, is I'm

27:12

calling local pharmacies, not

27:12

CVS or Walgreens because those

27:17

are obviously you know, slammed

27:17

with people. I'm trying to a

27:20

local mom and pop pharmacies who

27:20

are going to get the vaccine,

27:25

and I basically explain I'm a

27:25

volunteer, and can I, basically,

27:30

I have a list of eligible

27:30

people, you know, and everybody

27:33

who I deal with is elderly,

27:33

everybody is elderly, and not

27:38

just 65. And above the majority

27:38

I like to work with, I mean, I

27:42

obviously don't turn anybody

27:42

away, but the majority who I get

27:47

our abs, you know, late 70s,

27:47

more on the, you know, older

27:52

and, and I'm, I have one

27:52

pharmacy in mind, who I have a

27:56

call with later today where I'm

27:56

going to try to get a

28:00

relationship with to basically

28:00

say I have all these eligible

28:03

people, can I please send them

28:03

directly to you. And I'm hoping

28:08

that they will be open to that I

28:08

don't know if they will, but I

28:12

have all these people, I need a

28:12

solution for them. And that's

28:16

the only thing I can think of

28:16

right now. Otherwise, I'm in the

28:20

same boat as everybody else, I'm

28:20

just going to stay up really

28:22

late, wake up really early, keep

28:22

refreshing, and try to get them

28:27

appointments, I'm not going to

28:27

stop. But I may just be, you

28:31

know, in the same boat. I mean,

28:31

the success I had in the

28:34

beginning was solely because I

28:34

was ahead of the curve. And I

28:38

just had those five days of

28:38

getting appointments, because

28:42

you know, I was just a little

28:42

bit ahead of the curve. And

28:46

that, and I right now I'm just

28:46

like everybody else, I don't

28:50

know anything more than anybody

28:50

else at this point. So the only

28:54

assistance I can offer at this

28:54

point is that, you know, I can

28:57

fill out a form. And but I do

28:57

have these people that don't

29:01

know how to so I'm just going to

29:01

get them appointments and and

29:05

but I won't be able to do

29:05

anything more than you know, get

29:10

them an appointment when

29:10

appointments become available. I

29:13

am hopeful because I believe

29:13

tomorrow, the retail pharmacies

29:17

are going to start administering

29:17

things, but their books solid.

29:20

So, you know, I just want to

29:20

help these people. So I'm hoping

29:24

that this local pharmacy can

29:24

help but I don't know if he'll

29:28

be willing to. So, you know, I'm

29:28

just going to keep calling local

29:32

pharmacies and maybe because of

29:32

the publicity, you know, with

29:35

the New York Times article,

29:35

they'll see that, you know, I'm

29:39

a real volunteer trying to get

29:39

these people who are eligible

29:42

appointments but not

29:46

and you have you

29:46

you have not been vaccinated yet

29:48

correct?

29:49

Nope.

29:50

Do you have a plan for yourself?

29:52

I mean, not

29:52

really. I'm going to try I have

29:55

severe asthma. So maybe when

29:55

they open up the eligibility,

29:59

you know, for people preexisting

29:59

conditions. But, you know, I'll

30:03

be in the same boat as everybody

30:03

else just trying to get an

30:05

appointment.

30:09

Well, this whole

30:09

topic of conversation has gotten

30:12

me feeling so like warm and

30:12

fuzzy inside. So thank you so

30:16

much. I always, I always love to

30:16

sort of round out these

30:21

conversations with a question.

30:21

And I feel like every time we've

30:24

talked to people, the answer has

30:24

been the same answer. But I'm

30:27

curious to know, what is giving

30:27

you hope right now.

30:32

What's

30:32

giving me hope is, I really

30:35

strongly feel like the vaccine

30:35

is our way out of this. And I

30:40

also really feel like 2020 has

30:40

taught us that we need each

30:46

other way more than we ever

30:46

realized than we ever thought we

30:50

did. And everyone always says,

30:50

people are always sitting in,

30:54

you know, their faces and their

30:54

phone and everybody's, you know,

30:57

always on their cell phones. And

30:57

I really feel like that is

31:00

changing. Because all anybody

31:00

wanted to do when we were in

31:04

quarantine was, you know, see

31:04

each other and, you know, people

31:08

were going for walks, they were

31:08

standing outside talking to each

31:11

other. And I do feel like we

31:11

learned a lot from COVID. And I

31:18

know that for me, it truly

31:18

tapped into my compassion, my

31:24

sensitivity. I think, so many

31:24

people have suffered such

31:29

heartache. And last, and such

31:29

terrible things have happened.

31:34

And we all know people who have

31:34

suffered, whether you knew

31:38

someone that passed away, or you

31:38

had COVID, and suffered from it,

31:42

I think that we all have learned

31:42

so much and have, everyone has

31:49

so much more compassion. And I

31:49

just think that the world has

31:52

forever changed, and all of us

31:52

are forever changed. And I, I

31:56

just think that we're all better

31:56

for it. I know, I probably sound

32:00

like such a mush. But that's why

32:00

I really think that COVID made

32:04

me such a better person. And I

32:04

think that every person is

32:08

better for it. My husband says I

32:08

sound like he always tells me

32:13

now that I'm like a flower

32:13

child. But

32:15

I really do think that it made people better. I think

32:17

that everybody walked away,

32:21

everybody is going to walk away

32:21

with a better understanding for

32:26

life and for what we have. And I

32:26

think that the world is stronger

32:32

and better for it. And we have a

32:32

better appreciation for the

32:37

little things.

32:39

That's beautiful,

32:39

beautifully said. Beautifully

32:41

said. Hey, this is Caroline and

32:41

Raymond. We wanted to say thank

32:49

you for listening to this

32:49

episode and let you know that

32:51

there will be more every week

32:51

from now until we get fatigued

32:55

by it.

32:55

We're building

32:55

out this podcast as we go. So

32:58

stay tuned for improvements on

32:58

our website, our graphics and

33:01

video clips and just everything

33:01

else. The time was now to tell

33:04

our stories so we're learning as

33:04

we go. We really do appreciate

33:08

your interest in support. We truly hope that the personal stories that come out

33:10

in each episode can help build a

33:13

better understanding of COVID-19

33:13

how it spreads and how it

33:16

affects us.

33:17

If you have a

33:17

story or a question that you'd

33:19

like us to address in an

33:19

episode, please email us at

33:22

fatigued [email protected]

33:22

that's fa TIGU ed

33:28

[email protected].

33:30

Thanks for listening.

33:31

Bye