Older Iowans feel 'dropped through the cracks' of vaccine scheduling service 211
They haven't been able to reach the number on their landline in three days of calling.
MARION, Iowa - (Iowa's News Now) — Terry and Harriet Van Gilder have been waiting for the call.
"To the effect of: don't pester us, we'll get around to you when we get around to you," Terry says of what he found online when trying to schedule one through their doctor.
So far the clinic hasn't informed the couple, both in their 80s, of an open slot for the COVID shot.
Terry says he was contacted by the Veterans Association in Iowa City that he could get his vaccination, but he wanted to wait until his wife could as well.
Then the Marion couple heard about 2-1-1.
"The call center is expanding to include a team of 75 vaccine navigators dedicated to helping older Iowans get vaccinated and to get their lives back to normal," Governor Kim Reynolds announced during a March 3rd press conference.
2-1-1 director Josh Quinn says the service is targeted toward those 65 and older who need help scheduling an appointment.
"It's intended to help those who don't have access to a computer or a smart device," he says.
That's Terry.
"As an internet expert I'm a good plumber," he says. "I never fully mastered the typewriter."
He also hasn't been able to figure out how three digits could be so difficult.
"Called three times in three consecutive days, at least once," he explains. "I've gotten the same response each time."
That response is an automated voice telling him that the number, which links back to HACAP in Hiawatha according to Google, has been disconnected. No further information can be offered, the robotic female voice says. It repeats the message, then disconnects the call.
The Van Gilders are calling on their kitchen landline -- their primary form of communication.
There's no opportunity to talk to a real person or even select an option. Quinn says, without hearing the message himself, it may be user confusion.
"We do have a call-back feature on the phone system so if there's an extended wait time, we offer callers the opportunity to put in a phone number so we can place a call back to them," he says.
Except the Van Gilders were never prompted to give their number.
Other viewers tell Iowa's News Now they were on hold for an hour or upwards of 90 minutes.
Quinn says there was a lot of excitement when vaccine coordinators came on the line on March 9th and calls are now being resolved within minutes.
"Currently our average is about two minutes," Quinn says of wait times. "I would suspect that caller called on the first day."
Since the Van Guilders are using a landline, reporter Shannon Moudy tested it on her cellphone.
Within seconds of hitting dial, an automated voice answered, "Thank you for calling Iowa 2-1-1. Please press one to continue."
"What?!" Terry says in shock.
It also worked on Harriet's emergency flip phone, which they only use on road trips. She says she doesn't use it because it costs 50 cents every minute over her allotted plan.
They got the same automated disconnection message on another landline in another room.
Iowa's News Now reached back out to 2-1-1 after seeing the issue firsthand; we didn't hear back as of Friday evening.
The couple both have heart conditions; Harriet is a cancer survivor. They haven't done much traveling in the last year and Terry says they can wait to get vaccinated since they're mostly homebodies.
Though he wonders why they still have to.
"It makes you wonder if you've been lost or you've dropped through the cracks, so to say."
