BOOKING VACCINE APPOINTMENT ‘FRUSTRATING’ FOR OCTOGENARIAN COUPLE
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
GRAVENHURST — When you’re 86 things slip your mind.
Like leaving your vehicle and returning to retrieve your mask to pick up takeout.
A simple mistake easily remedied by a quick turnaround.
Alzheimer’s experts say don’t worry about forgetting your password — worry if you don’t know what to do with it when you remember it.
Good advice for seniors trying to book a COVOID vaccination — and for government IT departments designing online appointments.
It’s been “frustrating” for some octogenarians.
Ask Paul Argue.
He and his wife, Sheila, are the same age and should be among those first in line to be inoculated.
They tried several times.
Finally their daughter Collette finally managed to do it for them a week after they became eligible.
“At our age we’re getting just a little forgetful,” says his wife.
And, jokes her husband, if you’re “a bit of a Luddite ….”
Well, that’s part of the problem.
Argue said even when the couple did get on the waiting list it was more complicated than it should have been.
He should know, he’s a retired RCAF general in the Canadian Armed Forces.
So he knows his way around bureaucracy and procurement.
First he was told he’d get an email if they could slip him in.
Well, somehow he missed that.
“At our age they should call us,” he told MuskokaTODAY.com
Second, they said go to Barrie.
He said “no way, not at my age am I racing down there.”
Not when there was a big snow storm.
Anyway, he said, “they would have been closed when I got there.”
Finally, he was told there was an opening for him.
But his wife wasn’t invited.
“What about her,” argued Argue?
Three strikes and they’re still out.
Back on the waiting list as of Sunday — sticking as close to home as humanly possible — and trying to avoid a ticking time bomb.
“It’s just a little frustrating,” Argue said today.
His wife is “not as concerned.” She’s “not going to panic” — yet.
Argue’s a reasonable guy. Understandable. To a point.
He knows a thing or two about logistics and getting things done.
A lifetime military man he’s seen this sort of mess before.
And he sympathizes with Rick Hillier who is in charge of Ontario’s boots on the ground vaccination rollout and said “I can’t deliver what I don’t have,” said Argue.
The two retired generals cross paths at military college when Argue was nearing the end of his military career and Hillier was ascending.
“He didn’t speak out a lot, but when he spoke well and people listened.
“He didn’t promise anything he couldn’t deliver. But when he did he expected it to be done extremely well.”
So the Argues are confident they will one day get the email or call they can live with.
Sooner than next week, says Argue, after which he worries the addition of the 70-year-olds will further complicate matters.
Barb Christensen who’s also in her 80s (she won’t specify which year) says “it’s been horrendous.”
“I’ve been on the phone for days.”
She’s had her daughters Lisa and Kerry dialling for her as well.
Christensen said “it’s not well thought out.”
“We can get the flu vaccine no problem. Why can’t we get this?”
Her friends Cyril and Marion Fry finally got the vaccine last Monday with the help of their son, Allistair who lives in Aurora and drove up to Gravenhurst to take his parents back to Barrie for the appointment.
The Frys — who this year turned 95 (she Jan. 5 and he Feb. 14) — got the call at 10:30 a.m. and were asked to be there at 3:30 p.m.
But a snowstorm halfway down, which closed Hwy. 400 both north and south, forced them to use the side road in to Barrie.
Cyril Fry said it went off like “clockwork” once they got there.
And they made sure they had “the piece of paper” for their second injection March 25.
Meanwhile, Argue’s got time to watch other Canadian military manoeuvres involving two other officers under investigation, Chief of the Defence Staff Jonathan Vance and his successor defence chief Admiral Art McDonald.
Argue admits, when asked about them, that he is watching them with interest.
He says there may be something to the charges, but he doesn’t know.
All he knows is that any past and present military misconduct must always be addressed and treated seriously.
Just like getting Canadians the vaccine on time and in place.
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