Thinking about government agencies such as the
Department of Human Services, and what may be
ahead for all of us regarding Universal Healthcare and
any person readying to retire, I thought I would share
with you my experience in dealing with the
Department of Human Services in terms
of service and frustrations. This is a true story.
I am a caregiver, and the person I help care for is young, but
severely disabled. I will call her Carol.
Carol, a Hillsdale College graduate, cannot walk, has poor arm
coordination and is legally blind. She is on a very limited budget.
She does not receive enough income to cover all of her expenses
involving rent, utilities and food. For example, she receives
$16.00 per month for food which is, in my opinion, a sad joke.
Amazingly, she has a sporadic part-time job as a ticket handler which
basically allows her to socialize. She loves people and wants to
contribute to society, but the little amount she earns counts against
her for food stamps.
Every six months she has to send in a review
of all of her expenses to qualify for continued assistance.
As a caregiver, I recently filled-in all of the required paperwork
and made copies of all of her bills and bank statements. I then
physically drove over in my car to the Department and dropped
the completed form into the dropbox on the second floor and
well ahead of the due date. There was
no dropbox provided for this form outside the building.
Several weeks later, she receives a letter in the mail
that her caseworker has not yet received the paperwork.
So with assistance, she calls to report that she did indeed send
in the completed paperwork and would like her caseworker to
call her back to discuss this situation. She leaves her name,
message and number to call. The message on the phone states
that her caseworker will call her the next day and provides some
websites to visit for more information to resolve some issues.
Note that she can’t write down the websites, so on the next
call I jot down the urls. Carol also has no computer. She
cannot type, cannot see the print on the computer
screen, does not have any computer training needed, and
certainly not the funds to purchase a computer. Thus,
Carol anxiously waits for the phone call the next day to hear
from her caseworker, but receives no call.
Mind you, Carol’s day consists mainly of sitting in her Amigo
listening to t.v. and answering her phone. Her memory is poor
due to the disease and all of the medication she is prescribed.
So I remind her to call again the next day, but its Wednesday
and caseworkers do not take calls or appointments on this day.
So I remind her again the next day and she continues doing this almost
every day for the next two weeks hoping for a call from her caseworker.
Each time she calls she needs assistance punching in the phone number,
and reading and punching more numbers such as her account number.
We talk about visiting the Department of Human Services,
but it requires several days notice to make arrangements
with the Go Bus, and costs $6.00 for a round trip.
(If I could take her I would, but I have no access to a
handicapped van.)
After two weeks of calling and trying to meet the deadline for
food assistance and medicaid, she becomes fearful and desperate.
She cries and screams in her chair feeling so helpless, and
expresses her anger and frustration into her caseworker’s
answering machine. She doesn’t want to be cut-off from medicaid
since she needs it to cover any costs over medicare. She
also threatens to call the newspaper, because this
isn’t the first time her paperwork has somehow been lost
in the shuffle. In the meantime I gather up her paperwork
and call & beg a friend of hers to help me take her
to the Department of Human Services. He is strong enough
to lift her into my car and to dismantle her Amigo for the
10 mile trip.
We have to get to the Department before noon, otherwise
the government workers go on their lunchbreak. We arrive
in time to take a number and to request a meeting with her
caseworker. However, we do not have an appointment (I
don’t know how one would ever get an appointment when there
are no calls.) Anyway, a volunteer at the desk takes Carol’s
name and says she will email a message to her caseworker to
see if he would come down to meet with her. I asked if we
would have to wait all day to receive an answer. Thankfully, I
am told “no” that her caseworker would probably respond within
an hour or so. In the meantime, I suggest perhaps we refill out the
forms if we can get new forms since we don’t know if her caseworker
will be able to meet with us.
Carol finds out that the forms are in a different office, but
on the same floor. I go out to find the new forms, but upon
reaching this other office, I find out it is closed. There is a
sign in Spanish stating hours and times I think. I can’t read
Spanish, but I think the hours maybe Monday from 10 a.m. to
12 p.m. and Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m.. So we
have hit another roadblock.
Fortunately, I return to find-out that Carol’s caseworker
has responded to his email and will meet with us. We are
led to a new room, but have difficulty manuevering around
with the Amigo. The cubicles and hallway is somewhat narrow
and small for her Amigo, but we manage. Sitting down we
find out that the letter sent to her is a form letter that is sent
on a particular date if the paperwork has not been received.
(Now we had the paperwork sent in about a month ago of this
meeting so I don’t know how we missed this first deadline.)
Evidently, though, many people were sent this same letter so
the caseworker said he sent a voicemail telling all of his clients to
ignore the letter. Unfortunately, Carol’s phone has been acting up and
so her voicemail had not been working. She’s been wanting a new
phone, but has not had the money to purchase a new phone.
After hearing our story, her caseworker leaves to search for her
lost paperwork. He finds her file and has the needed paperwork.
We review the documents and share with him some new current information.
Carol inquires about her food assistance hoping for an increase. Her
caseworker says all of her information will be entered into the
computer and a formula will be applied to determine her allotment.
Our caseworker was very polite and handled the situation
efficiently and well. Carol apologized for her recent nasty messages,
and said he receives many similar calls like hers each day. I am sure
he does considering this economic climate and the number of people
needing assistance. He too apologizes to Carol for having to come down
to the Department of Human Resources. We left satisfied. I then stopped
at Target and immediately bought a new phone for Carol as a gift to her to
help with much needed messages. (Human Resources, please don’t financially
count this against her.)
Reflecting on this experience I noticed at least 3 other people in
the building who were probably more disabled than Carol. Thinking about
the poor, I wonder how the old, disabled, the unemployed and other low
income individuals and families handle the expense of voicemail and computer
access to websites and the technological skill needed to inquire about their
personal benefits. Everything is going on computers, but this is quite difficult
for this population. Sure there is the public library to gain access, but again
it requires trip planning and skill.
I would like every politician and government worker to read and hear
this story.
1. How are we going to service everyone when government is broke and
cannot keep public offices open 5 days a week and 8 to 5? Actually, there
should be evening hours as well for those who are fortunate enough to have
part-time work or for those needing assistance from friends or family members,
but who work during the day.
2. Days and hours of various offices should be well publicized in bulletins,
form letters and on office doors and not only in Spanish, but also in English.
I think we still speak English in this great country of ours.
3. Communication is key. The Internet is great, but it is a luxury item
as are computers. Websites are a great tool, but not the only means
for communication. The return personal phone calls are needed. Private
businesses, doctor offices, and insurance companies do a much better
job returning phone calls and communicating via email.
4. The system needs to consider the aged, ill and disabled. If you are
handicapped, old, or sick it is extremely difficult to make physical
trips over to governmental agencies. Organization, record keeping, and
completing forms are difficult for this population.
5. Timely scanning and accurate documentation of completed
and returned forms. (Get the distinct feeling that correspondence is
thrown away or ignored in hopes that people will give-up and go-away.
I hope that is not the case.)
6. Convenient drop boxes are needed to meet deadlines.
7. Manageable caseload numbers for the caseworkers.
