GREENWOOD, Ind. — Hoosiers age 55+ are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, more vaccine clinics are opening around the state, and more vaccine is available with the emergency approval of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. But people still have to sign up, then go out and get the shot.
Now the Homebound Hoosiers vaccination program is taking the vaccine to people who can’t leave their home.
Bargersville Fire Department paramedic Katrina Held started delivering the COVID-19 vaccine Friday to people who are homebound in Johnson County.
"They very much feel forgotten,” Held said. “They're very excited to see one just outside visitor to come into their home. They feel very safe and secure with us. They are beyond excited. They're very happy to be receiving the vaccine."
Held gave Phyllis Harman the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in her living room at her home in Greenwood Tuesday morning.
Harman turns 84 later this month. She doesn’t drive. Going to a vaccine clinic would be difficult.
"I could get someone to take me,” Harman said. “But they were first talking that you had to wait hours. I don't have any way to go and sit and wait for hours and someone have to take me and come after me. So, I really appreciate everything they do for me at home."
Harman has only left her home once in the last year, to see an eye doctor. The vaccine makes her feel safer about venturing outside her front door.\
"Maybe it'll make me feel more like wanting to go somewhere,” Harman said. “Senior services used to take me to Walmart every Tuesday. After this (the pandemic) happened I went in March, then I didn't go anymore. So I might get back to wanting to go out a little bit."
About a dozen vaccine clinics are now spread throughout Johnson County. But for those who can't get out of their house for health reasons, two paramedics are making COVID-19 vaccine house calls through the new Johnson County Health Department community paramedicine program.
Joyce Weliever lives in Bargersville. She suffers from emphysema and is on oxygen.
"I don't go out, just because it's so much trouble,” Weliever said. “Because if I leave home, then I've got to carry those big tanks. And I hate those and they're cumbersome."
Weliever’s children and grandchildren have stayed away for most of the last year for fear of giving her the coronavirus. Held gave Weliever her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday afternoon in her family room.
"Having their family around them, I think, is the best medicine that we can bring them,” Held said. “So, if we're bringing them peace of mind so their family and kids can come around, that's priceless."
Weliever is anxious for Held to return in four weeks to administer the required second dose.
"I just want to get it all over with and if it works, it works,” Weliever said. “If it doesn't work, I'm 78, and you know, the hell with it."
Homebound Hoosiers can register with their local area agency on aging. In Marion County and the surrounding donut counties, you can call CICOA at 317-803-6131. You can also find your local agency at IAAAA or call 800-986-3505. An instructional video is also available.