Independent Perspective #1626

Guest:  Todd Vaarwerk

Topic:  COVID-19 vaccine distribution, people with disabilities

Duration: 05:47

Published:  December 1, 2020

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living. Our guest today is Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer of Western New York Independent Living, and I'm your host, Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Todd.

Guest:  Always good to be here.

Host:  You have something of great concern to a lot of people. We've been looking very forward to the coming of the covid 19 coronavirus vaccine. And many people with disabilities are wondering about what is the plan for the rollout. And when can they expect things. As it happens, in cooperation with some of our community partners, you're going to be doing a couple of online presentations in the near future, which will answer precisely those questions. Could you give us the details?

Guest:  Absolutely. This is actually an initiative of the Erie County Office for People with Disabilities and Erie County Health Department, wanting to get people with disabilities to know how vaccines will be distributed in Erie County. Now, this is specifically Erie County that we're talking about, but there are people that might get an idea as to how it might be done in their counties by listening, recognizing that the COVID vaccine is being distributed in waves of importance. Currently, critical medical staff, nursing home staff, and residents staff, and residents of congregate care facilities, and now I think this week they added urgent care center staff, right. So, as the more doses we get, the broader out, this is going to go. And at some point, you're going to come across people with disabilities who might have other involvements or medical conditions. So, we want people to know how they can reach or how vaccine distribution will be done, how they can get information about that and what they should remember about what band of admission they're in. For example, according to the state, we're still in band like 1A or 1B, right. So, people with disabilities are somewhere in the two bands so it's coming, but not immediately. So, in order to facilitate kind of getting rid of this confusion, we're working with the Erie County Department of Health and the Office for People with Disabilities, to do a couple of Zoom meetings that will help explain that. And we're also using the telephone versions for Zoom meetings so anybody who doesn't have access to computer equipment can actually get on their phone and get on the call and get all the information. So, we're doing two of them. On January, 6, which is a Wednesday, one at 10:00 a.m. in the morning and one at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon, and all you need to do is go to our community engagement department at 836-0822 and talk to Jillian at extension 146. She'll sign you up, send you all the information that you need about how to be there for the meeting of your choice. And then we're going to chat a little bit with the County Department of Health, and the agency’s Ican program about how this relates if you're in managed care.

Host:  For the benefit of our listeners, what is Ican?

Guest:  Ican is the Independent Consumer Advocacy Network. We are the Manage Long Term Care Ombudsman for the eight Western counties. So if you have a problem navigating services, specifically long term care services that you might be getting from a managed long term care program, or a health and recovery program with OMH (Office of Mental Health the HARP (Health and Recovery Plans). You can get assistance from Ican in getting the services you need or navigating that system.

Host:  Alright. In our waning moments if you could repeat Jillian Moss’ number to call for reservations, and also her email address if you have it.

Guest:  Absolutely.

Host:  Well it's jmoss@wnyil.org

Guest:  That's correct. And you can call her again. 836-0822 extension 146, and then any additional questions about the issue you can bring to my office 716-836-0822 extension 101.

Host:  Thanks for being with us, Todd.

Guest:  Always a pleasure.

Host:  You’ve been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living. Our guest today was Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer of Western New York Independent Living and I’ve been your host, Ernie Churchwell.