Orange County

‘It is frustrating’: Assisted living facility director voices concern over vaccination schedule

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Employees at Encore assisted living facility in Avalon Park do their best to keep residents from feeling alone during the pandemic.

But, executive director Kimberly Edwards said they’re desperate for normalcy that can only come from vaccinations.

“And it is frustrating to see that other people are moving to the front of the line and having access to the vaccine,” she said.

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Edwards said she’s been trying to contact CVS every day to find out when it will be their turn, but she hasn’t yet been able to reach anyone with an update.

She said the state tells her they don’t know when they’ll be scheduled for vaccines, either.

“It is frustrating,” she said. “And it’s challenging, and I don’t really know what to do about it.”

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For now, Edwards is telling her employees to get vaccinated at Orlando Health, a public site, and she’s given families her blessing to take their loved ones out to do the same.

However, Edwards said that’s not ideal.

“Two-thirds of our residents have a memory impairment so it would be a little harder to take them out in groups to get the vaccine,” she said.

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She said it puts other residents at risk, and causes a logistics issue keeping up with each person to get their second dose.

The sooner we can get the vaccine rolled out to long term care facilities, the sooner we can get back to normal,” she said. “We relish that day.”

A CVS spokesman said their vaccination dates were chosen by the state.

They plan to vaccinate nursing homes, starting Jan. 25, and people in assisted living facilities in about a month and a half.

Adam Poulisse, WFTV.com

Adam Poulisse joined WFTV in November 2019.