Unclear on the concept. Ramsey County Human Services "upgrading."
For at least the last 9 months when I call my financial worker I get a message that they are switching to all paperless and that there is a delay with mail and hand delivered papers of 3 to 5 days before she sees anything. So this month something happened that had to be taken care of before May 1st and I put in a call a week ago Friday to get some information and was told by return call the next Monday I needed to fax a form in to her. Faxes do not need to be digitized just routed. I faxed the form on Monday April 23, another one on Friday April 27 and a third on Monday April 30. I got a call on Tuesday May 1st to let me know she had just gotten the first fax. I think I probably should check to see if I even have MA this month before my monthly appointment for medication check and testing. At least they have a robot phone that says yes or no when you put in your number. It was put in for doctors but they now let clients call it to cut down on some calls to workers. I have been on a program that sends in paperwork once every six months unless there is a change in income, assets or residence. Because of a small inheritance, not enough to pay for one emergency room visit, I have to go onto a different classification where I have to fill out and send in papers once a month. Used to be all the mail came into a pile and was sent out and eventually got to its destination and was easy to track. Now there is a whole new bureaucracy that you almost have to call, if you can get through and tell the worker that you have sent in paperwork so that the delay if it is lost is not so long as to make you lose benefits
I am grateful for the help but yes I do work a few hours to pay for dental care and copay's and do have more important things to do in my life, with my family and in my community than spend a whole month on pins and needles wondering if my paperwork was going to make it through in time this month so I can get the medicines that keep me alive. Drug stores seldom take IOUs.
I had also tried to phone to follow up on Monday April 30 and my workers voice mail was full, her back ups voice mail was full and her supervisors voice mail was full. All three messages included the information that nobody took calls on Tuesdays "quiet days".
Ramsey County does not do email as far as I know.
Add to that I am dealing with a very busy lawyer and a a special trust through a local community organization and it seems to me that moving information around has not been this slow since the invention of the telegraph. At least with those last two my faxes and phone messages get heard the same day even if they cannot get back to me until the next day.
Since I am not sick or hungry I did not escalate it but I sure wonder if there is any way to escalate Ramsey County if that were true or if they are hopelessly mired in a broken, obsolete system of communication.
Rant on
It is hard for me having grown up in "Minnesota the state that works" that nobody today even cares that this very important office is not working. At what point is it neglect? Last year a cousin took in two grandchildren temporarily who lived in the same state and had to wait over 6 months to get them on medical assistance. Here in St Paul she could have taken her granddaughter to get her Kindergarten checkup and shots to the County Health Dept. She was soliciting donations from other family members in order to get it done on time. I don't even know if that more rural county has any health services any more.
Hey but we need a Vikings Stadium and a ball park in St Paul and an upgrade to Target Center and more red tape on medical and personal stuff here in MN including voting. Everything they do costs more money and does not do what ALEC says it will but it disrupts the lives of the lowest 20% when they are already stressed too much. It isn't until after they put these things in like Airport screening that is ineffective humiliating for everyone except the 1% does the not 20% finally get it it when their lives are made unpleasant. Why? Why do so many people buy the easily debunked lies when logic gets you right to where they plan to put you, in hell in the USA. Go Rush, the GOP and the Media. Why do they want me to die?
Rant off.