How to set up a COVID vaccine appointment

Tribal Health, a department of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has created an online form patients can use to request a COVID vaccine.

Tribal Health prioritizes patients who can receive COVID vaccines, including most vulnerable populations first, such as elders (age 70 and older) and those with high-risk medical conditions.

The form is available at the Tribal Health website, www.cskthealth.org. Patients are asked to fill out the required details. Once the form is submitted, each patient will be evaluated to determine when they are eligible to receive the vaccine.

Vaccine supply is still limited. Filling out the form will not guarantee an appointment in the order in which it was received.

Those with questions may call Tribal Health at 406-745-3525.

For patients served by providers other than Tribal Health, Lake County remains in phase 1B of its vaccination plan, with doses currently going to people age 70 years and older; Native Americans and other people of color who may be at elevated risk for COVID-19 complications; and people age 16-69 with high-risk medical conditions. A list of such conditions is available at lakecountypublichealth.org.

Patients who do not have a local primary care provider may call Lake County Public Health at 406-883-7288 to get on a waitlist. The department is being flooded with calls, so those who do not reach a receptionist directly are asked to leave a name, phone number, date of birth and, if applicable, any underlying health conditions. There’s no need to call repeatedly. Those who are determined to be eligible will receive a phone call to schedule a vaccination appointment.

For more information, visit lakecountypublichealth.org.

Staff members at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson are reviewing patient records to help determine vaccine eligibility. If you’ve been a patient at the hospital, you may receive a call offering to set up an appointment.

St. Luke physicians are prioritizing patients to identify those at highest medical risk, and staff are reaching out to them to schedule them for a vaccine first. They have also developed an online wait list, available through their website at www.stlukehealthcare.org, so anyone who is interested in receiving a vaccine can sign up. They do ask for patience during this time, as the list is already fairly extensive and vaccine supplies are not coming in quickly. However, this will at least place community members on the list, so they can be scheduled once they are eligible and a vaccine is ready for them. They ask that the public does not call at this time to schedule a vaccine.