Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
WORD OF MOUTH
Woman uses grapevine to help others get vaccinated
Marissa (Bond) Pham has spent the past weeks building a network.
The Kempton native’s goal is to help people, particularly older community members, get their COVID-19 vaccine.
“It started in early February when I scheduled appointments for my parents, that was my primary starting point” said Pham, 36, who lives in Downingtown. “At that point I learned and saw very quickly that unfortunately the systems that were set up, the logistical infrastructure that was set up there was such a drastic difference in the styles and way an individual could sign up (for an appointment) and how an individual would have to navigate that (process).”
Built by word of mouth, Pham’s network led to 334 people being scheduled for a vaccine appointment as of April 2. About a month ago, she scheduled her 84th person. One week after later, she reached about 220 people scheduled.
“That was incredible,” Pham said. “I was able to book around 10 to 14 people every day, and then about 120 in just that one week. In the last three weeks, they were nonstop for about a good week straight. I was waking up at 5 a.m. using Weis (Markets) and then going to bed around midnight using Rite Aid with (Penn State Health) St. Joe’s going up at around 8 p.m.”
Pham’s network started in the Kempton and Kutztown areas, then expanded to Oley and Fleetwood. Now the network has reached into Reading, Allentown and even Pottstown.
“The majority, I’d say at least 80% to 90% of the folks I have booked have been 75 and older because that was the community I started to outreach to,” she said.
A desire to help
Pham’s inspiration to help older people is personal. She learned respect for and how to talk to elder community members growing up in the Pennsylvania Dutch community. At that time her family owned Wanamakers General Store in Kempton. That helped grow her communication and socialization skills.
“It was those roots I would say in respect to what I’ve been doing with assisting elders in receiving vaccines,” she said. “My desire to now serve the community was directly related to my upbringing in our community.”
As data have shown, older community members are at higher risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19. Severe cases can lead to hospitalization and possibly death.
When Pham saw how difficult scheduling a vaccine appointment could be and how technology was a barrier to access, she wanted to do what she could to help those community members protect themselves.
“They (older people) did not have the same access, and even if they knew how to navigate a computer, the systems unfortunately were not set up to be easy to navigate,” Pham said. “It’s very competitive. You often have to be the first person to type the fastest and click next the quickest. That’s simply not fair for the elders who are most vulnerable at this time.”
She and her family know firsthand the devastating effect CO
VID-19 can have on a person and their family.
“My uncle, my dad’s brother, unfortunately did develop and pass away from COVID this past September,” Pham said. “I’m doing this in honor and in memory of my uncle Jeffrey Bond. That’s been really important because I want (others) to understand that, one, this is dangerous and, two, it’s a reason to motivate, to encourage them to tell other people (how to book appointments).”
Pham’s uncle was 72 when he passed away. Being able to schedule appointments for people around his age and older has made it that much more important for her to continue to do this.
Helping others schedule vaccine appointments also connects to Pham’s professional work. She is currently a stay-at-home mom with a young daughter but has career experience in gender rights advocacy and international development, often with a focus on medical issues.
“This work was an extension of my long-term career,” she said. “I have had these skills I have not utilized in regards to medical health outreach and medical health advocacy. This was a way that I could tie in my passion for service and my background and my ability to outreach and network and educated.”
Building a network
Before her network expanded far enough to help hundreds of people get vaccine appointments, Pham started with her family.
“Once I learned that I could book my parents and I continued to wake up at 5 a.m., I then booked my aunts and uncles,” she said. “I eventually found that I can do this, I’m learning the systems, let me help more people.”
Next on Pham’s to-book list was the local community. Then she wanted to expand even further.
“After I booked our local community, I reached out to our family hairdresser in Kutztown,” she said. “I told our hairdresser, I want you to reach out to the ladies who perm.”
She had the idea because she recalled how her grandmother who would go every Friday to treat her hair. Pham knew how fast word could spread in a hair salon, and she knew word of mouth would be the best way to go for a community that does not rely on technology. And it worked. “I can trace the entire nexus of my outreach back primarily to my Kempton community, and my aunts and uncles, but also to those four women from the hair salon,” Ph m said. “I can trace everyone back to the hair salon and how a girlfriend told a girlfriend who told a friend and here we are. It was really word of mouth.”
There was a period a few weeks ago when Pham’s list was growing between 20 and 50 people each day. All of the contact was by phone.
When a call would come in, Pham would collect the necessary information to schedule an appointment as well as how far a person was willing to travel and if they had a provider preference. She would then ask how the caller got her information and would mark that down next to the person’s name. That is how she has been able to trace her network.
“I was memorizing birthdays and I was remembering cities and ZIP codes, I think I now know every Berks County ZIP code by heart,” Pham said. “In my mind I would see a name. I would say OK, they live in Topton and they’re willing to drive to Lehigh Valley but their preference would be St. Joe’s or vice versa. So I would know when I was ready to book on Weis or on St. Joe’s or Lehigh Valley. It was always whom is willing to go where? Whom do I book first? What does the map look like.
“I had a nexus in my mind’s eye.”
Pham added people to her list in the order their call was received. She would make her way through booking as many appointments as she could in a day and then call each person back. When she would call them back with their appointment, she not only told them when and where but also gave them a rundown of what they would need and driving directions if needed.
Her turnaround time was almost always between 24 and 48 hours in booking appointments.
Outreach and education
Doing all of this by phone led to a number of memorable conversations.
“I’ve had really beautiful and profound conversations doing this,” she said. “Just the gratitude that people share. I’ve had a number of people who said they felt like a breath of fresh air, a sense of relief, came over them. That they felt safe again even after just the first vaccine that they just knew they were on their trajectory toward health now.”
As supply has increased and more appointments have become available, Pham said her booking has slowed down dramatically in the past week to two weeks. She has since started to focus her outreach on educating others on how to self-schedule.
Pham changed her phone message to reflect the shift in focus and has created guides on how to navigate the scheduling process.
If anyone has questions on where and how best to self-schedule a vaccine appointment, Pham said they can reach out via email at rissabond@yahoo.com.
“I’m happy to have done this, and thankfully it has been successful,” Pham said. “I really hope that more people have that sense of safety and can have a healthy and happy summer. I hope that others maybe pick up their computers and decide to schedule a neighbor or someone else in need, too.”