Community Health and Wellness

Formerly frustrated Flint couple get ‘vaccinated for anniversary’

Written by Tanya Terry

Brenda Bacon, 80, of Flint and her husband; Paul Bacon, 80, of Flint were getting frustrated about the wait to get their COVID-19 vaccines-like many Michigan seniors.

Both the Bacons have underlying health conditions. Brenda Bacon has severe asthma.

“I just had a bad asthma attack, and I coughed for so long it gave me a hernia,” she said. “Now, I’ve got to have surgery.”

Her kidneys are also in bad shape due to taking an arthritis medication.

“I was almost in kidney failure,” Bacon said, “I almost went into dialysis before they discovered it.”

Bacon has also had four back surgeries where they had to remove the bones and replace them, and she has had a knee replacement.

“My lungs definitely and my kidneys place me at a higher risk for complications if I were to contract COVID.”

Paul Bacon has a heart condition.

“They are waiting-because of this COVID-to put in a stent, because of his age and you don’t want to expose him to COVID,” Brenda Bacon said.

Paul Bacon also has high blood pressure and sugar diabetes, also making him at very high risk for facing hospitalization or even death if he would have contracted COVID.
But the Bacons have been very careful.

“We don’t hardly go any place at all except to the grocery store, to the doctor and to the drugstore,” Brenda Bacon said.

She said she does see her daughter, who works in mental health and according to Bacon is also very careful.

Unlike others who hesitate about getting the COVID-19 vaccine, the Bacons knew immediately they wanted to be vaccinated. They contacted the their local health department as soon as an announcement was made that their age group was eligible to be vaccinated for COVID-19. They were part of Phase 1B, both being 75 or over and not living in long term care and covered in Phase IA. The core vaccination administration period for them started in January. Bacon opted not to register online but to call and make an appointment.

“I was one of the first ones that called. The night they announced that I got on the phone….You know what’s really amazing? We got our first shot on the 30th of January; the 31st was our 62nd wedding anniversary! I thought that was the best anniversary presents they could have gave us!’

Bacon again recalled how long she waited to be vaccinated. The health department was asking people not to call to check on the status of an appointment once they registered because it was causing problems. So, they did not reach back out to the health department.

“It’s the same all over the state and all over the nation,” Genesee County Nursing Director Kimberly VanSlyke-Smith said.

“Because this is a new vaccination; it’s a new vaccine-it’s coming out the federal level down from the states and then out from the states out to the local counties,” she added. “So, there wasn’t a way to have a concrete plan. It’s not that it didn’t go as planned. There just wasn’t a way to have a concrete plan because we didn’t know going into this how many vaccines we would get. We didn’t know how many we would be allowed to order each week to start with. So, it’s really hard to plan how many clinics you can offer and how many appointments you can offer when you don’t know how many doses of vaccine you’re going to actually have until the Friday before the week starts.”

Bacon her husband had to go to Fenton High School to get the vaccine.

“They asked me if I’d like to go out there and get them. I said ‘yes, I don’t care how far I have to drive,’” she said.

She describes the process once they were called in for their appointment as “amazing.”

“We got in and they were clear backed up on the highway,” Bacon said. “(And) we had to get in that line and I thought ‘Oh my God, this is going to take hours.’ It didn’t. It moved very fast. They had about five tents set up where they were giving the shots, and they moved the people through very easily. I never felt the shot go in and neither did Paul. We never had any reactions to them at all. They made the appointment for the second shot at the same time as our first appointment right after we got the first one. So, it made it easy to remember. They gave us a card and said they’d call and remind us. They said if we don’t hear from them, just to go.”

The Bacons have their second appointment on Feb. 29.

After being vaccinated they had to wait in another line about 15 minutes. They were asked how they were feeling and if they had any type of reaction to the vaccine.

Brenda Bacon realizes some seniors across Michigan are not as fortunate as she and her husband are to have already received their first vaccine. She has advice for any other senior who is waiting to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Just hold your temper, and wait your time. They will call you. I would tell anyone not to be afraid to get it. For us, the after effects were nothing. We didn’t even get sore arms. I don’t know how the next one is going to go. They say that can be the worse one. But, be safe until you get your shot!”

In addition to COVID-19 vaccinations being administered by appointment at Northwestern High School and the Burton branch of the Genesee County Health Department, Hamilton Community Health Network offers vaccinations at all its locations throughout Genesee County.

In addition, some pharmacies offer COVID-19 vaccines. For example, Rite Aid began giving COVID-19 vaccine shots in some states, including Michigan, Feb. 11.

All residents are encouraged to visit Michigan.gov/COVIDvaccine for the most up-to-date information about vaccine eligibility, safety information and clinic locations. Residents who don’t have access to the internet or who struggle to use a computer can also call the COVID-19 Hotline at 888-535-6136, which is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

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