The Daily Courier

Positivity 101: senior happily roles up sleeves

- BY RON SEYMOUR

A 101-year-old Kelowna woman hopes to be among the first people in B.C. living independen­tly who isn’t a health-care worker to get a COVID-19 vaccinatio­n shot.

Elsie Chandler says she’s looking forward to getting the vaccine as soon as possible.

“I’ll put out my arm for anything if it’s free,” the cheerful Chandler said with a laugh Monday. “I’ll phone my doctor and see if I can be first in line.”

But as someone who still cooks and cleans on her own, without any in-home support services, Chandler likely won’t be getting her vaccinatio­n until February, at the earliest.

Currently, vaccines are being administer­ed to residents, staff, and essential visitors to longterm care and assisted-living residences, according to the government’s website.

Health-care workers in settings such as intensive care units and hospital emergency department­s, as well as paramedics, are also being vaccinated, as are people living in remote and isolated Indigenous communitie­s.

Beginning in February and continuing through March, the government projects, vaccinatio­ns will be available for people like Chandler, who are over 80 and living in the community, as well as Indigenous people over the age of 65, along with those individual­s who are homeless, in prison or living in group homes.

This second priority group also includes general physicians, medical specialist­s and all other hospital staff.

“Following all priority groups, all others in B.C. can get vaccinated as more vaccine becomes available, if the vaccines available are recommende­d for them,” the government website states.

By the “end of 2021,” the government says, everyone in B.C. will have had the opportunit­y to be vaccinated.

Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday that B.C. has so far vaccinated 25,744 people after getting 54,625 doses of the two vaccines approved by Health Canada; more doses arrive in the province weekly.

For her part, Chandler spent most of 2020 curbing her daily activities to include only those trips that are essential. She gets groceries delivered once a week though she still occasional­ly shops in person at a nearby SaveOn where she is so well known and liked that staff visited her and brought presents on the occasion of her 98th and 100th birthday.

According to Statistics Canada, only 30 of Kelowna’s 127,380 residents were 100 or older in 2016.

For Chandler’s 102nd birthday on Feb. 2, she knows she won’t be able to have a party like in years past; she’s OK with that.

“At my age, I think I’m just lucky to be here,” she said. “And, knock on wood, my health is fine. Pinch me, and I’ll yell.

“If I open both my eyes in the morning and am able to put my both feet on the ground, I’m ready to go,” she said. “I think, ‘God’s given me another day, so I better make the most of it.’”

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Chandler

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