12 January 2021
(TNS) – Jan. 10—Elizabeth Apana is 72 years old. She moved to Santa Rosa in 2019 because her cardiologist told her she needed surgery to stabilize the rhythm of her heart, and it would be too risky to have the procedure done in Hawaii, where she lived at the time. She also has congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. She is eager to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, for obvious reasons.
“Mentally, it’s going to make me feel a whole lot better, because I know I won’t have to worry about catching COVID, and I won’t have to worry about giving it to other people,” Apana said. “I feel it will be a new chance at life.”
Apana wanted to know when she’ll be eligible to receive her first dose of vaccine, and how she might be alerted to that bit of good news. So she started calling around. She phoned Sonoma County’s COVID hotline, was directed to Emergency Services and spoke to a health administrator there. She called county Supervisor Susan Gorin and left a message. She called her doctor. “All the places that it’s been listed,” Apana said.
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