NORTHAMPTON — Volunteers will be going door to door in the city starting this week to distribute information on where residents can go to schedule vaccinations for COVID-19.
The “Vax Facts” campaign, a program of the community group Northampton Neighbors, aims to leave COVID door tags on some 7,500 residences in the city, while also leaving 750 flyers in apartment complexes and subsidized housing units in town, according to Madeline Lenz, the program’s coordinator.
Lenz says the information on the door tags, which is in English and Spanish, is also being provided to businesses in town so that they in turn can make it available to their customers.
Lenz said the campaign has been funded through a grant from the Massachusetts Service Alliance and is being coordinated with Northampton’s Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Northampton Association and with the Northampton Health Department and Senior Center.
Spanish translations have been provided by UMass Amherst professor Luis Marentes and students in his class on Spanish translation for community health services.
To take on this project, Northampton Neighbors is enlisting some 50 volunteers from within its own ranks, including older residents, as well as 50 high school students. The goal, Lenz said, is to promote some “intergenerational volunteers for a project where we’re trying in particular to reach older residents who may be isolated and don’t have all the information” on COVID vaccines.
“Registering online to get a vaccine may be commonplace for younger people, but if someone is in their 80s and not that familiar with computers, or doesn’t have an internet connection, this can be a much bigger challenge,” she said. “We think this can be a good program for engaging volunteers and informing seniors.”
A number of student organizations are taking part in the Vax Facts campaign, including the Northampton High Pathways Program, the Smith Vocational Health Tech program, and the Girl Scouts of Western Massachusetts.
Northampton Neighbors formed about three and a half years ago as a sort of “virtual retirement village” to help seniors with rides, grocery shopping, access to social events and other services — the goal being to enable seniors to live more independent, engaged lives.
But Lenz said the pandemic brought much of that work, done mostly through volunteers, to a halt. The push to provide city households with information on COVID-19 vaccines is in part a means of combating that enforced isolation, she added.
The Vax Facts door tags will include information on local and regional centers for getting vaccinated, such as the Northampton Senior Center, as well as information on vaccine centers managed by the state. There will also be information for getting vaccinated at home for people unable to travel.
Lenz said the distribution effort will start Wednesday, April 28 with the goal of hanging the first round of tags by May 5. Materials will be made available to volunteers starting April 28 at the Cooley Dickinson VNA and Hospice at 168 Industrial Drive in Northampton.
To sign up to be part of the drive, or to find out more about it, visit northamptonneighbors.org and click on the link for Vax Facts. You can also reach Madeline Lenz at (413) 341-0160 or (413) 230-7088 and at Madeline.lenz95@gmail.com.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.