Will County Offers COVID-19 Vaccination Help For Senior Residents

WILL COUNTY, IL — The Will County Health Department and Senior Services of Will County have formed a partnership to assist senior residents of the county with the COVID-19 Vaccination Survey on WCHD’s website.

Since some senior residents have had difficulty registering, the health department has accepted assistance offered by Senior Services of Will County. Will County senior residents may call Senior Services at (815) 723-9713 for staff assistance over the phone. If a Senior Services volunteer is not available at that time, the caller’s phone number will be taken, and they will be called back soon by a volunteer.

To prepare for the distribution of the vaccine, WCHD asked residents last month to take a survey.
Questions contained in the survey were developed from limited and preliminary guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. County residents will be asked to provide personal information such as address, contact number and employment status.

Other questions in the survey pertain to assessing whether you are a health care/ front line worker, if you have pre-existing health conditions and if you live or work in a long-term care facility.

According to a release from WCHD, 70,000 residents have already taken the survey. They will be contacted when a COVID-19 vaccination clinic is available for them, and they can make an appointment at that time.

Although Will County is still currently in Phase 1A of the vaccination rollout, this partnership will allow the county to be more prepared for Phase 1B, which will include the vaccinations of those 65 and over.

However, health officials do not know when Phase 1B might begin.

"Will County is a very large community, both in terms of population and geographic area," said WCHD Executive Director Sue Olenek. "We also have four hospitals, a large number of outpatient medical clinics and doctors' offices, three federally qualified health centers, numerous long-term care, assisted living, and senior residential care sights, as well as other medical personnel such as dentists, nurses, physical therapists, etc. We have a very robust medical community, which is great for our residents."

But what that also means that it will be several weeks, probably close to two months, "before we move into Phase 1B," she said.

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