Lincoln County is looking for help – paid and working 20-40 hours a week – to staff its call center which is being overrun by people seeking information on COVID-19 vaccines.
Lincoln County Public Health opened the call center last June after the first big COVID-19 outbreak at Pacific Seafood in Newport, shut it down in late summer only to staff it again after the September wildfire that swept through Otis. It ramped it back up a few weeks ago, but now it is being swamped by calls and needs more help.
The health agency is seeking people with good computer and customer service skills. Much of the work involves explaining COVID-19 protocols, vaccine availability – and in may cases helping people over the phone register on the online appointment list. The county will train you.
“We’re sort of desperate at this point,” LCPH director Rebecca Austen told county commissioners Monday. “We’re struggling right now.”
Austen stressed that it’s not like some previous volunteer jobs working half days one day a week. In this case, she said, people would be working on contract for the county, 20-40 hours a week, five days a week for $20 an hour. She expects the positions to last 4-6 month “at the least.”
Austen asked people to email her directly with a resume and a short explanation of their interest to: RAusten@co.lincoln.or.us
