The House of Hiranandani Upscale at Egattur on Old Mahabalipuram Road made the process of vaccination smooth for the seniors in the community by coordinating with the primary health centre (PHC) in the area, on their behalf.
At last count, 60 per cent of the seniors who had registered for the vaccination got their jab.
Impressed with the cleanliness and amenities at the PHC in Kelambakkam, 70-year-old R. Srikanth, a resident, spoke to the staff and doctor to find out if the PHC could give a slot for the residents to cut down on the waiting time.
“Once I learnt it was possible, I circulated a note in the various WhatsApp groups about my audit of the PHC, and shared a form for those interested in getting a time slot,” says Srikanth.
IT professional Sai Ram and Seshan Krishna Kumar from the gated community helped create a Google form as per the format required for registration with details like name, date of birth, PAN, Aadhar card number and address with pin code.
“We circulated the online form on February 24 hoping to close it within two days but registrations kept coming in until February 28. A total of 122 people registered for the vaccination at the PHC,” says Srikanth, who is president of Rotary Club of Chennai Upscale and a polio-vaccination campaigner.
The next step was grouping the registered members in such a manner that members of the same family would get their turn the same day.
“Our objective was to have a process that helped both the PHC and residents and ensured there was no crowding at the Centre,” says Srikanth.
“Each of us shared our experience, which was positive, in the community’s WhatsApp group, and this helped build confidence about the vaccine drive as well as the neighbourhood PHC, which many of us were visiting for the first time,” says Raghavan Murti, president of one of the towers.