Today a letter arrived announcing that the benefits people had cut my SSI by five bucks. This made me be afraid that my SSI disability check could be cut further at any time. That was very upsetting.
Then I got a notice by In Home Support Services that people who work for me, (who are paid by IHSS,) will have to "qualify" to be paid minimum wage by taking courses sponsored by the county! They will need to be fingerprinted and get a criminal background check that disallows people who are felons and "serious misdemeanors," - whatever that means.
The weird thing is IHSS is going to require fingerprints from both me and the person who is working for me on every report form. They want these fingerprints to be there on each time sheet! Are they paying for us to buy the equipment to do the fingerprinting? Probably not. Another expense; pretty soon they'll require us to buy "special" from them ink so it can be electronically checked.
Where will this supposedly "good" idea about "security improvements" end?
This is is an invasion of privacy because ANYONE can get hold of my fingerprints in the mail! All for the privilege of being able to work for minimum WAGE! It's hard enough to get someone who will work for you because of how IHSS takes so long to pay. Now it will be impossible! Workers are always paid late. Workers may have their hours cut or eliminated at any time with only ten days notice!
There is another sucky thing you must agree to allow. Because you need help, you give up your right to privacy. IHSS wants to be able to "surprise inspect" your house at any time.
I remember these "surprise inspections." I watched Mr. Wilson, who was dying and needed care who lived next door. One day when his worker was supposed to show up, Mr. Wilson did not answer the door when his worker came. So his worker called the cops and the cops broke down Mr. Wilson's door. This happened many times because Mr. Wilson used to fall asleep regularly when he was supposed to stay awake.
So I'd like to know what will happen if IHSS makes a "surprise" visit and I am in my worker's car going to the store or at an appointment with my worker so I don't answer the door. Will they call the cops and break into my house?
If IHSS comes "unannounced" to my house and I am being taken to an appointment and so is not home, will they search my house? We all know what cops do to a house when it is searched.
I am really, really mad about these "policy changes". I am so mad that I am screaming. Frustration doesn't even begin to describe how I feel.
It's hard enough to find people who will work for IHSS, let along workers who will put up with having their fingerprints regularly sent through the mail. What were these stupid people thinking???
They are thinking: "Let's put more hoops in the way so nobody will want to work for these people who need help. Then these people will get worse because they'll be forced to do things for themselves and they'll die sooner. Then we won't have to deal with them."
In-Home Support Services people say that they're trying to minimize "fraud." But they're actually making it impossible for IHSS recipients to find people to work for them.
OK, let's say you are a kind relative who wants to help our your ailing oldster by working around the house for them. To afford to do this, you need to get paid something. Would you send your fingerprints through the mail each month to work for these minimum wages?
On top of that, IHSS has announced they will no longer mail checks to P.O. Boxes. Now my favorite worker who sometimes works for me cannot do so, because her only possible mail delivery location is a rural Post Office box!
I am livid. I guess I'll just hurry up and die earlier like everyone else will have to do.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Getting the Groceries Home
I've been working on what I'm going to do when I don't have someone to drive me to go buy groceries. Many people come up with suggestions because they imagine there must be another way to work out getting what I need.
The past week the social worker at In Home Support Services gave me a suggestion. He told me to pay for my groceries to get delivered. So I called the two stores I shop at up on the phone and asked about how much this would cost.
Guess what Grocery Outlet said, which is over 4 miles away? They won't deliver at all because they are a discount store. They suggested that I shop there and call a cabbie to get my groceries home. So I checked that out and it's about twenty dollars. Plus, the cab driver has to wait while I unload the groceries and might charge me more.
When I moved here, there was a Safeway grocery store around the corner. That store closed, but a brand new Safeway is now the closest store to me. The only problem is that it's over a mile away from where I live - a two and a half mile round trip. I can't walk that far. Someone told me there's a new store (called Paradise) moving into the old place. Too bad it's going to be even more expensive than the price increases at the new Safeway. It's going to take some time before it's open too.
Safeway does have a way to deliver groceries. I will have to buy e-food at Safeway on-line with my credit card.
There are two serious problems with this. First is that I can't use coupons online that save me money as I have been doing when I buy in person. The savings are from $20. to $30. bucks each shopping that I do twice a month. If I buy everything on-line, I would be spending that extra money without the coupons. Then there is the $15.00 delivery charge on top of that.
There is another problem: I must use my credit card to get groceries delivered. The credit companies frown on buying food with a credit card. They think it is a bad sign that I do not have enough money. They will lower my credit limit if I buy food online, because they see charging the costs of groceries to be a red flag. They have recently lowered my credit limit even lower, and started charging additional fees.
Then there is how to get my medication from the pharmacy to me. There's a pharmacy at Safeway in another town will deliver my medication but that costs $3. bucks a pop.
I wish I could get my groceries delivered for $3. It's looks as if grocery delivery will cost an extra $75. a month. You must buy at least $50. before they deliver your groceries. Given my credit card limit, how long will it be before I can't buy food because I've maxed my credit limit?
So I see no way of doing this. I just don't have the money to get food delivered.
If I take a bus to all these places, I would have to take multiple trips to get all my shopping done. I will be shopping every day. That will cost more; the bus is a dollar each way; that is an extra sixty dollars a month to shop daily.
Then there is carrying everything upstairs to my apartment, (especially in the rain,) to and from the bus stop. It's not hard to imagine that I would be so tired and in even more back pain than I'm in now. My doctor has now diagnosed me with tendinitis wrist pain.
That's how I got hurt in the first place - by slipping on ice on my deck.
If I accidentally fall and hurt myself or get sick there is nobody to ask for help. My neighbors can't help me, because they all don't speak English. Besides, they are busy with there own lives. They don't even visit or talk to me anyway, mostly because we don't speak each other's language.
It's the same with my friends who do speak my language. I'm already driving people away thinking about all this stuff.
So I'm stuck. This is why disabled people kill themselves.
If you have any other suggestions, please put them in the comments section. Other people who are reading this blog will also benefit.
The past week the social worker at In Home Support Services gave me a suggestion. He told me to pay for my groceries to get delivered. So I called the two stores I shop at up on the phone and asked about how much this would cost.
Guess what Grocery Outlet said, which is over 4 miles away? They won't deliver at all because they are a discount store. They suggested that I shop there and call a cabbie to get my groceries home. So I checked that out and it's about twenty dollars. Plus, the cab driver has to wait while I unload the groceries and might charge me more.
When I moved here, there was a Safeway grocery store around the corner. That store closed, but a brand new Safeway is now the closest store to me. The only problem is that it's over a mile away from where I live - a two and a half mile round trip. I can't walk that far. Someone told me there's a new store (called Paradise) moving into the old place. Too bad it's going to be even more expensive than the price increases at the new Safeway. It's going to take some time before it's open too.
Safeway does have a way to deliver groceries. I will have to buy e-food at Safeway on-line with my credit card.
There are two serious problems with this. First is that I can't use coupons online that save me money as I have been doing when I buy in person. The savings are from $20. to $30. bucks each shopping that I do twice a month. If I buy everything on-line, I would be spending that extra money without the coupons. Then there is the $15.00 delivery charge on top of that.
There is another problem: I must use my credit card to get groceries delivered. The credit companies frown on buying food with a credit card. They think it is a bad sign that I do not have enough money. They will lower my credit limit if I buy food online, because they see charging the costs of groceries to be a red flag. They have recently lowered my credit limit even lower, and started charging additional fees.
Then there is how to get my medication from the pharmacy to me. There's a pharmacy at Safeway in another town will deliver my medication but that costs $3. bucks a pop.
I wish I could get my groceries delivered for $3. It's looks as if grocery delivery will cost an extra $75. a month. You must buy at least $50. before they deliver your groceries. Given my credit card limit, how long will it be before I can't buy food because I've maxed my credit limit?
So I see no way of doing this. I just don't have the money to get food delivered.
If I take a bus to all these places, I would have to take multiple trips to get all my shopping done. I will be shopping every day. That will cost more; the bus is a dollar each way; that is an extra sixty dollars a month to shop daily.
Then there is carrying everything upstairs to my apartment, (especially in the rain,) to and from the bus stop. It's not hard to imagine that I would be so tired and in even more back pain than I'm in now. My doctor has now diagnosed me with tendinitis wrist pain.
That's how I got hurt in the first place - by slipping on ice on my deck.
If I accidentally fall and hurt myself or get sick there is nobody to ask for help. My neighbors can't help me, because they all don't speak English. Besides, they are busy with there own lives. They don't even visit or talk to me anyway, mostly because we don't speak each other's language.
It's the same with my friends who do speak my language. I'm already driving people away thinking about all this stuff.
So I'm stuck. This is why disabled people kill themselves.
If you have any other suggestions, please put them in the comments section. Other people who are reading this blog will also benefit.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Stressing Out
Because of my chronic pain it is hard to focus and get motivated to do other tasks in my life. Let me tell you what that means.
I have pain in my arm and wrist that happens when I use the computer too much. So I'm behind in my e-mails. I must do about an 1/2 hr and quit for a while. I feel tired all the time. I can read a book for a for as long as half an hour, but then put it down because lack of focus. So I can't do things for long periods of time.
To get money, I can't work like most people do. So I do surveys on the computer to make extra money so I can do things. I keep track of every penny. But I'm in debt. Now with the cuts of dental and future bills looming, I will have to figure out how I will get to the store soon and to my doctor appointments and that will cost more money. It drives me crazy. I'm always thinking of my problems, my health, my financial situation and all the things I need to do to get my life back on track.
I have a few friends, but they all are too busy to help me. If I ask my friends for help too often, they won't be my friends for long. One friend is already tired of me and might not come over any more because of it. I lost my last worker because I got stressed out already.
People tell me to take a bus. But that is hard to when you've got to get a lot of things and need help to carry things. I try to be cheery, but it is hard. Another friend had me join a church. So I try to do my Buddhist chanting as much as possible to change my life condition.
There is a lot of stuff I want to get to improve my home on craigslist.org for free, but the guy friends I know are to far away to bring them to me. They have back trouble, work and also don't have a truck to get the bigger items I need. So that doesn't help. The one friend I do have who would help is in Hawwai most of the time.
I have pain in my arm and wrist that happens when I use the computer too much. So I'm behind in my e-mails. I must do about an 1/2 hr and quit for a while. I feel tired all the time. I can read a book for a for as long as half an hour, but then put it down because lack of focus. So I can't do things for long periods of time.
To get money, I can't work like most people do. So I do surveys on the computer to make extra money so I can do things. I keep track of every penny. But I'm in debt. Now with the cuts of dental and future bills looming, I will have to figure out how I will get to the store soon and to my doctor appointments and that will cost more money. It drives me crazy. I'm always thinking of my problems, my health, my financial situation and all the things I need to do to get my life back on track.
I have a few friends, but they all are too busy to help me. If I ask my friends for help too often, they won't be my friends for long. One friend is already tired of me and might not come over any more because of it. I lost my last worker because I got stressed out already.
People tell me to take a bus. But that is hard to when you've got to get a lot of things and need help to carry things. I try to be cheery, but it is hard. Another friend had me join a church. So I try to do my Buddhist chanting as much as possible to change my life condition.
There is a lot of stuff I want to get to improve my home on craigslist.org for free, but the guy friends I know are to far away to bring them to me. They have back trouble, work and also don't have a truck to get the bigger items I need. So that doesn't help. The one friend I do have who would help is in Hawwai most of the time.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Where I'm From
For a long time now, I am lucky to be getting Section 8. This is a Federal program that helps disabled people by paying part of the rent. I came to California in Sept. of 1985.
Walking used to be fun. Routinely, I used to get off the bus in Fairfax and walk all the way to San Rafael where I could catch the bus home.
Since 1999, my home has been in Novato, CA. There used to be a big food store within walking distance to my apartment. Now that food store has moved across the highway and it is more than mile away. Of course this would happen after I hurt my back and have trouble walking.
I want to get a kid's wagon that I'm thinking of using to go shopping. A cop stopped a friend of mine who I had sent to get groceries and told him he couldn't use a shopping cart to bring my groceries home.
Walking used to be fun. Routinely, I used to get off the bus in Fairfax and walk all the way to San Rafael where I could catch the bus home.
Since 1999, my home has been in Novato, CA. There used to be a big food store within walking distance to my apartment. Now that food store has moved across the highway and it is more than mile away. Of course this would happen after I hurt my back and have trouble walking.
I want to get a kid's wagon that I'm thinking of using to go shopping. A cop stopped a friend of mine who I had sent to get groceries and told him he couldn't use a shopping cart to bring my groceries home.
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