BARBERTON, Ohio — A Summit County doctor and nurse have teamed up to find vaccine appointments for hundreds of Ohioans as many struggle to do so.
Dr. Franciska Kiraly is a frontline hero, but she’s taking her duty one step further and uses her lunch breaks and after hours to book vaccine appointments for strangers in the community. She has seen the effects of coronavirus first-hand.
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“I've had patients hospitalized, I've also lost some patients as well,” said Dr. Kiraly.
Through Facebook, she linked up with nurse and Summit County Councilwoman Bethany McKenney. Together, the women have booked more than 1,400 appointments for strangers. They've never met but they talk multiple times each day.
“We have actually lost two friends to COVID that were in the ICU and on ventilators so that hits home when you are searching for appointments,” said McKenney.
The women have spent hundreds of hours online on various websites looking to book vaccines. McKenney says there are several tips to share, especially for the Giant Eagle website.
“When I get on Giant Eagle, when you do get on, you want to go to the calendar page and keep refreshing that rather than going back to the zip code page because they only give you 10 zip code entries and you are lucky to get it in 10 zip code entries.”
She says Giant Eagle tends to update appointments every five minutes. Also, she says you should use multiple browsers.
“Get more than one computer out so you can get a husband and wife together,” said McKenney.
Additionally, the women say it’s important to be patient. If you find yourself with a message that says "nothing within 50 miles" keep checking, as appointments will pop up.
“When you hear each person reach out and they give you a story and tell you how long they've been trying and what they've done, you get goosebumps,” said Dr. Kiraly. “You go to bed thinking about it, you wake up thinking about.”
Resources to help you book your vaccination appointment: