Will: Remember you had some questions about, like, your felonies, like the felonies you
got in the past. I don't really know about that stuff so
that's why I brought Kristin along. Kristin: It doesn't matter at all that
you have a legal history, because you've served your time and you're on
probation and you are following the rules and all of that.
Tell me about whether you have any money in a bank account or any property or
anything like that?
What branch were you in?
Male Speaker: United States Navy Uncle Sam's Canoe club.
Kristin: You can apply for social security benefits even if you're getting
VA benefits or even you've applied for them.
Kristin: And where were you born? Female Speaker: I am from Fiji.
Kristin: So you have been here for 15, 16 years already.
They have benefits available to immigrants who have been in the country and paid in to the system and worked.
Can you tell me where you're working?
Female Speaker: At a fastfood restaurant. I have trouble getting out of bed I just
want to sleep all day. Kristin: Well, you can keep on working
and we can still move forward with the application.
Will: So we've been kinda strolling around town,
we've been showing her, like, the hotspots and some of the meal programs
and parks and things, and just noticed that Bones isn't at his usual spot.
And, you know, he doesn't get around that easily, so I am kind of worried about him.
Have you guys seen him or...?
Jen: We were at the meal downtown at the church earlier today.
Did you see him? I didn't see him, no.
Will: I checked the hospitals and -
Jen: Okay have you checked the sheriff's website?
Will: No, no -- that's a good idea.
Jen: We can look and see if maybe he's incarcerated.
Yeah, let me pull that up for you.
So it looks like he is safe but in jail.
Will: Alright, well, it's good that he's alive you know.
Jen: Yeah, it's good that we found him. Will: And we can get to him, sounds like,
so, but maybe Jeff can help us out and get us in there.
Jen: Yeah, he can take you guys over and you can talk with him and see what's going on.
Will: All right, yeah, thanks a lot.
Jen: Yeah, no problem, anytime.
Will: I am glad you're here even though it's a weird place to be, it's a tough situation.
Duane Bones: My big concern was like is this gonna mess up my application and stuff?
Kristin: Yeah, no worries we will be able to keep on with the application and keep
things going, send any information we need so it's no problem.
I'm gonna take some notes here on this pad and we're gonna take it back
with us and fill in the application online and submit it that way.
So, you are welcome to take a look at anything I write. I'm just gonna to write down what you say.
Will: Social Security wants to know a lot
you know, about where you've been treated for physical stuff and maybe mental stuff
and anything that's going on with you.
Do you mind telling us about some places you've been to?
Duane Bones: Um, no, there's a place in Lousiville
that I spent a lot of time, it was a mental place.
I was there for like probably like 8 months.
Kristin: You said after the accident that you weren't able to work anymore.
What job where you working at then? Duane Bones: I was a short order cook.
Will: Hey Bones are other people that we can just call to get a little bit more
information about you and what's been going on with you?
Duane Bones: People that's known me for a while?
Will: Yeah Duane Bones: Oh yeah, I mean, you can call my brother.
Will: So Bones can you tell us a little more about maybe why you went in to the
hospital or what was difficult at that time.
Duane Bones: Well, I mean, you know, I have kind of damaged myself a lot.
The tip of that finger one time, I was, I don't know what I was mad about or what it was that I was
doing but I actually took a pair of plumb shears and whacked off the tip.
Kristin: So it's really hard for me to be in a jail,
in a jail setting, especially to be kind of behind bars visiting with someone.
And, so, it's really important for me to kind of take care of myself after being in a situation like that.
And, so, to talk with my supervisor about that,
talk about what my feelings were and then also do things to just take care of myself
personally - so do things that I enjoy that can kind of take my mind off some of those things.
Will: And what was going on around that time? Duane Bones: Well, I was going through like
a bunch of personal crap and it's kind of hard to explain.
Will: Alright, we don't have to talk about it.
Those doctors that gave you those pills, why did they give them to you?
What where they treating? Duane Bones: It's like a mixture its not
just one thing - it was like you know, schizophrenia and a little bit or paranoia.
I guess it's kind of a cocktail. It's not really just one thing, it's like you know,
violent outbursts and stuff, I mean, they would say it was because of this or that.
Kristin: It would be really good to talk to one of Duane's former employers to really
get a sense for what kind of work he did, what kind of struggles he had,
and reasons why he left the job, why he wasn't able to keep on going.
So, I understand you've got the name of someone - a manager that he used to work
for and Duane signed a release? Will: Yes, his name is Matt.
Duane signed a release for us to be able to talk to you and basically we are trying
to assist him with an application for benefits.
Matt: Yeah, Duane was a good guy but unfortunately we couldn't keep him
here, you know, he was a short order cook and he just wasn't showering.
Kristin: So, Will, this is another form that we are going to work on with Duane
when we go see him tomorrow. This is the SSA-8000 and it's
Social Security's SSI application, so we can kind of work on this form with him.
Will: Ok, and then we do this online like the other ones.
Kristin: Actually, the SSI application isn't online right now so we'll still have to do
the paper form but when we turn in our complete packet, we can turn it in to Social Security.
The first part of the form is just asking kind of basic eligibility.
And as you go through, it's gonna ask you know, are you unable to work because of what illnesses
or conditions? So you would put in the same thing here that you put on the disability report.
It asks about citizenship and then if the person isn't a citizen, its gonna go into
immigration status.
Will: So when they ask about legal history is that gonna affect Duane?
You know, Duane has been in jail so is that gonna affect him and his application?
Kristin: So it won't matter that he has been in jail in the past.
While he is currently in jail, he is not eligible to receive benefits, so this next
section on living arrangement will be important. But as soon as he is released
they'll be able to establish his new living arrangement.
You would check off right here where it says transient -to indicate that he is homeless
and doesn't have a steady place to live.
And then you see we are going to skip all the way to question 35 so we are going to skip all this section here.
Will: Well, for resources, I don't think he has too many.
I know he had like a camper at one time but I don't think he - you know I think he sold
that a while ago so he is - he really has no resources that I know of.
Kristin: And this next section is all about income.
So any income he may be getting. And then it asks whether or not he is receiving
food stamps - does he get food stamps now? Will:Yep.
Kristin: Great. If he wasn't, then they would refer him to go and apply for them.
Will: Thanks Kristin, that was really helpful and the application is pretty
straightforward, I mean this information is the same information that you get
during normal outreach so I'll have to double check some of it but I think I got most
of it already.