Vaccine wait means no bathroom breaks
Sharon Glueck, 66, didn’t think a stray Dixie coffee cup would come in so handy.
As the hours ticked by Tuesday, she saw no restrooms nearby while in the long drivethru line for a COVID- 19 vaccine. So the Hollywood woman took care of her business in her car, with the empty cup.
“Thank God,” she said. “I felt like I was at my doctor’s office having to give a sample.”
Glueck worried about the same problem that troubles many seniors: They dread bathroom emergencies while waiting hours in drive- thru lines with hundreds of other people. South Floridians tell stories of avoiding drinking fluids, doing their best to hold it in or ultimately peeing in a cup while in their cars. Some say they feel lucky to find a nearby port- a- potty while a friend holds their place in the car line.
As drive- thru vaccination sites open across South Florida, the restroom concerns have been mounting.
Broward County came first in encountering the restroom problems, leading officials this week to arrange for more port- a- potties. Drivethru sites haven’t opened yet in Palm Beach County, and the largest vaccination drivethru in Miami- Dade will be at the Hard Rock Stadium, when it opens Friday.
Glueck’s wait for a COVID19 vaccine lasted more than four hours at Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill. The vaccines were for people 65 and older and “our bladders were not what they were when we were 18,” she said. “It was crazy.”
After she first used her Dixie cup, eventually her car looped near a restroom, and she said she ran as fast as possible to make a bathroom break — “worrying I’m going to hold up the line.”
She left her cup inside her car. “I wasn’t going to run with the cup,” she said.
She waved thanks in gratitude to the driver behind her when she returned, but she was disappointed the state hadn’t made provisions in advance. There were porta- potties at the park, but she hadn’t passed them on her route.
Another senior, Mark Goldblatt, of Coral Springs, knew the queue for a COVID19 vaccine would be lengthy. He and his wife showed up for their vaccine appointment at Tradewinds Park on opening day Sunday, and the need to use the restroom loomed large.
He held off on using the restroom for five hours, and so did his wife, although she didn’t drink anything all morning and brought an empty cup with her as a Plan B.
“That ’s definitely an issue, definitely amongst old people,” he said.
The Florida Department of Health in Broward opened a handful of county parks this week for drive- thru vaccine locations and more will be opened within weeks. And now the county is scrambling to buy portable toilets to accommodate seniors.
According to Broward County Parks and Recreation officials:
At Markham Park in Sunrise, residents have access to the park restrooms, which is on the vaccination- line route. The county ordered two port- a- potties — one of them accessible to the disabled — that were scheduled to arrive Tuesday. They’ll be placed in a waiting area for people who have already received the vaccination. On Wednesday, two more port- a- potties were scheduled to be delivered and placed along the vaccination route.
Tradewinds Park i n Coconut Creek already had two port- a- potties on site, and another two arrived Wednesday. The public restroom buildings are open but none of them are on the vaccination route.
At Vista View Park in Davie, the regular park
restroom building is open, and the county has ordered four port- a- potties, two o f t hose handicapped accessible.
The vaccination site at Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill was scheduled to open for seniors Tuesday, but t he s t at e changed its mind Monday and rescheduled the opening date for Friday. Still, it made an exception for people who already had a p p o i n t m e n t s . T h e r e are f our port- a- potti es at the park and two park restroom buildings.
The bathroom situation is bothering Val Greenfield, of Coral Springs, who has an appointment scheduled for this weekend.
“It seems silly, but it ’s a human need,” she said.
“The mere idea that I might not have easy access to bathroom facilities makes me anxious so that I’ll need the bathroom facilities. And how do you leave the car? Do people go around you?
“I’ m considering not drinking anything for several hours before I go.”
Larry Kassman and his wife had an appointment scheduled for 2: 03 p. m. this past Sunday at Vista View Park and found “no signs, no bathrooms, no people to direct you.”
When he saw the cars that stretched for blocks, he was concerned about a pee break.
“We thought about it, of course, but we managed to luck out. We made it back home without it. We just lucked out. I’m sure there were people in trouble.”