OXFORD, Ohio — Twice a week, a Butler County Regional Transit Authority vehicle sets out from Oxford’s recreation center parking lot. On Wednesday afternoon, the driver, a county employee and a 73-year-old woman were looking forward to the 90-minute trip.
Some of them had struggled to get an appointment for the coronavirus vaccine for months. By the end of the day, they’d all have their first dose.
In mid-March, Butler County opened its mass vaccination clinic at the fairgrounds in Hamilton.
By that point, about 60% of Ohioans 70 to 74 had gotten at least one dose and more than 65% of those 80 and older. Anyone 50 and older was just starting to get in line.
Meanwhile, Oxford city leaders, like city manager Jessica Greene, turned their thoughts to the people who might be missing from those statistics.
Until last Wednesday, Gertrude Lemons was one of them.
“It’s just too hard,” she said. "I mean, it’s just too hard.”
The 73-year-old has been eligible for the vaccine since Feb. 1, but struggled to make an appointment. Lemons doesn’t have internet access and she’s been relies on her granddaughter to help.
“I was about to give up and she says, ‘Look at this — try this Facebook thing,’” she said.
It was a Facebook group that helped connect Lemons with those who could help her get vaccinated.
“She’s a real saint as far as I’m concerned because there’s so many out there like me that just can’t seem to get it, you know, the shot,” she said.
The Facebook group directed her to the city of Oxford.
Weeks prior, Greene worked with human resources to develop a system to help anyone in the Talawanda School District make and get to appointments in Butler County.
“We started with hundreds of calls a day,” she said.
It was mostly people struggling to navigate the system, but Greene said she worked with the Butler County Health Commissioner to come up with screening questions to ensure the city was helping those with the greatest need, those without transportation and those without internet.
Greene said city workers made their appointments and BCRTA provided the transit in the form of their biweekly bus trips.
Lemons hopped on the bus March 31 for her first vaccination appointment.
“It’s a nice little trip,” she said.
Oxford handled the paperwork and registration for her so on the way down, all she had to worry about was her post-vaccine plans.
“Just get out and walk,” she said. “I have put on 10 pounds since this started.”
Once at the fairgrounds, health care workers boarded the bus and administered the vaccines without anyone leaving their seats.
On the ride back, workers on the bus assured Lemons if she called the city back they would set up her registration for her second dose.
As of April, according to the Ohio COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard, almost three quarters of Butler County adults 70 and older are vaccinated, but Oxford officials want to keep the service open as long as it’s needed, ensuring anyone who wants a vaccine will have no trouble getting registered or getting there.
For now, this bus is only available in Oxford for those in the Talawanda School District, but the Butler County Health Commissioner said she would like to see other cites adopt the model.
To serve other parts of the county, BCRTA has created a map on its website showing all the vaccinations sites along the free routes.