5 minute read
Local Heroes
Local Mom Helps Hundreds—
and Counting, Schedule Covid Vaccines
By Jackie Schatell
While Covid vaccines are now available for older adults and immunocompromised individuals, it is often difficult for them to garner appointments. Noting this, as of mid March, Lindsay Feeley, of Summit, a mom of two children under 3, who works full time as an event planner, has already made over 350 appointments for people, and counting.
Lindsay says she started making appointments for people after she was able to schedule her own appointment at 4am. She told a friend, who asked for her help, and later mentioned she had other family members having difficulty making their appointments. Lindsay volunteered to help, and says it began spiralling from there. Soon, Lindsay was helping friends, and friends of friends, get appointments, daily, in many states, not just in NJ.
She does it all for free, and when people ask for her address to send her something in gratitude, she says, “If you want to do something for me—just wear a mask.” Lindsay says she loves being able to help others, and says, after being cooped up at home for so long, if “I can help others in this way, I am all for it.”
While many people she helps call her an “angel,” Lindsay says she just enjoys helping others, especially those who have trouble maneuvering on a computer. Below, Lindsay shares a few tips:
1. Type fast.
2. Look on sites at odd hours like 4am.
3. Find a buddy who is also looking, so “you can text each other when you see open spots.”
4. Join the Facebook group @
NewJerseyCovidVaccineInfo.
5. Sign up at Wgirls.org, where a volunteer will be assigned to help.
6. Sign up at hidrb.com to be notified of extra doses.
7. Follow Twitter bot @C19VaxxUpdates.
8. Look on Vaxxmaxx.com.
9. Check out Findashot.org.
10.Create a Walgreens account, so you’re ready to book when new appointments are added.
11.Use auto-fill so as to be ready as soon as appointments are listed.
12.Check out grocery store sites.
13.For those over 75, which may expand to age 65 soon, call Walmart, and ask for a pharmacist, who will make an appointment over the phone.
14.Call the NJ COVID senior help hotline, 856-249-7007 for booking assistance.
In addition, Lindsay says, “If someone is helping you get an appointment, do not shy away from telling them your true availability, as this helps prevent the volunteer from having to call later and cancel, and have to start all over again.” She also says, “Don’t have more than one person looking, as this causes confusion, wastes volunteers’ time, prevents others from getting theirs, and also causes those helping to have to later call and cancel, if the person is double booked.
Lindsay plans to keep helping people get appointments, until possibly May, when more eligibility categories are opened up, and everyone can start looking. Then, she plans to sleep.
Lindsay Feeley
FRONT LINE SEWING ANGELS
Make a Huge Dent During PPE Shortage
By Jackie Schatell
What started out with one woman, JoAann Gregoli of Sparta, sewing cloth face masks at the start of the pandemic for her daughter, a physician’s assistant at a Long Island ER, has become a nationwide endeavor with over 65,000 hand-sewn face masks, 20,000 scrub caps and 500 “Read My Lips” face masks created by 550 volunteers— and counting. The much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) items have been distributed to frontline and essential workers, police forces, hospitals, medical facilities, nursing homes, assistedliving facilities, shelters, community organizations and nonprofit organizations across the country.
“At the start of the outbreak, I learned that healthcare workers lacked basic personal protective equipment and weren’t prepared for the oncoming COVID-19 pandemic,” says Joann. “My first instinct was to start immediately organizing and mobilizing others to help make masks and then transport them to the hospitals where they were most needed.”
While Joann, a seasoned event planner, was calling residents in her area to action, her friend and partner on the project, Christine Preston, a public relations professional residing in Madison, was mobilizing residents in the Madison and Chatham areas. They set up a page at gofundme.com/f/support-thefront-line-sewing-angels, which by mid-March 2021, had raised $39,115. Next, they created a robust Facebook page, called Front Line Sewing Angels, followed by their website sewingangels.org. Before long, hundreds of people were volunteering to make patterns, cut, sew, put kits together, distribute items and more, as other people and companies donated fabric and other items needed by the Sewing Angels. “It was such an unexpected surprise to take on this endeavor,” says Christine, who set up strategic depots throughout the area while coordinating volunteer efforts. “It was a uniting undertaking. It gave so many people who were home, immobilized by the pandemic, something tangible to do. They had a purpose and enjoyed making an immediate impact by helping those in need. It was really gratifying.”
“It became a labor of love,” adds Joann.
Inspired to help their own deaf children, Christine and JoAnn also developed a mask with a clear window called the Read My Lips mask. According to Christine, “People with hearing loss typically rely on visual clues including lip reading to understand spoken language.” The Front Line Sewing Angels produced this product and sell it on their website to help fund their mask making mission.
While the group was already well known for their efforts, a Good Morning America segment really put the group on the map. Efforts are still going strong, with calls now coming in from all over the country.
Those wishing to contribute are welcome to contact the Angels via their website, Facebook and gofundme pages, call 917-885-9736 or send an email to ccpreston@gmail.com.
Christine Preston
—Christine Preston
