choking on red tape

still works, but seen better days

ready for a rant? It's been awhile.................no fluffy stuff today.............

Last week, I had a chance to chat with Charles, our local blogger extraordinaire who manages to sniff out stories and stir up anxieties at the legislature with his bloggie threats and his trusty digital camera. He was telling me a story about a woman who lives in the same rooming house as he does. This woman was very upset because she had just changed banks and found out that her new bank automatically took $50.00 out of her account. Given that she only receives about $500.00 social assistance for the whole month to pay her rent, utilities, food and other life necessities, 50 bucks is HUGE! She was livid, as was our rabel rouser Charles who took this woman down to the bank to find out what was going on. At the last minute, the woman refused to enter the building. Too afraid and too worn down from day to day living on welfare to make an attempt to confront and to find out why the bank withdrew the amount, the woman balked. It was too much for her.

Charles, went in anyways to talk to a bank Manager on behalf of his friend only to be told that it was confidential and he would have to bring the woman in. It was enough of an ice breaker that when Charles went back outside, he was able to talk her into meeting with the Manager who according to Charles was a very friendly nice woman. Things were sorted out, and the 50 bucks was returned to her account. Apologies were in order. It was an empowering feel good story. Of course, Charles took a photo of the Banker and his friend for posterity.

GOOD on ya, Charles!!

The story led to our own conversation about how quickly one's confidence and sense of empowerment goes out the window when one is on social assistance. Everyday survival life is too difficult that there isn't the energy or the motivation to fight for rights, to stand up for yourself, and to jump through the many hoops bureaucracy and businesses set up and label "service delivery." When one is trying to make ends meet until the end of the month on a measley amount......when one is worried that there won't be any money left for food for the kids, or whether or not the hydro bill is going to be paid in full or if the hydro company will cut the power, whether or not one can scratch together some money so their child can attend the end of year field trip, or that new summer sneakers can be purchased etc, etc, etc.........the thought of fighting the big bank, or the case worker, or of filling out yet another application for money to fix up their home so the rotting floors and mold are removed.....it's just too much.

Bureaucracy and big business are just plain bullies. Though you and I may be able to fight the good fight....to let our voices be heard......to stand up for our rights, there are MANY others who are worn to the core and have lost their voice. And it's not just the welfare system......it is the healthcare system, the mental health system, the banks and loans companies, some community based services, social services etc.......

Time and again, I meet with people who are fighting such huge fights, with no support or power to get their needs met. Time and again, I go out to a home to complete a social assessment only to spend a good hour listening to their unbelievable stories of frustration in trying to deal with the infamous red tape. It overwhelms them......and astounds them to a point where they just give up because no one seems to go to bat for them.


What seems to happen is that if a person puts up a little fuss, they get labelled a troublemaker. If the person takes it a little farther, they are completely ignored. It's not until they raise such a ruckus by contacting their local politician, or phoning the media or at least throwing down the threat gauntlet so hard that they are taken seriously when someone somehow somewhere cuts through the bullshit red tape. The squeakiest wheel always gets the grease!

I spent this morning with a young woman who has survived heinous abuses, chronic health issues, and was put on Dilaudid when she was 17 years old because of a sore back from being beaten by a man who basically kept her to himself since she was 12 years old (where were her parents, you ask??? hmmmm...good question.....long story). She is presently trying to kick her addiction through the Methadone program (which I visited for the first time today and I must say I was VERY impressed with the friendly non-judgemental service the staff are providing. It was a breath of fresh air that's for sure) and find another place to live because her present "room" in a house in a respectable neighbourhood is filled with mold and bugs.......so bad that she contracted a wicked infection in her lymph glands and breast and was hospitalized for a month following surgery. No one was helping her. She kept asking and asking for help and no one had the where with all to help her apply for subsidized housing until she and I first met on Friday.

Part of the problem is that she is very difficult to contact because she locks herself in her room to keep away from the filth of the rest of the basement she shares with other tenants and has the fans on to keep the stench away. As well, she is fighting to stay clean from street drugs and Dilaudid. she travels daily to the Methadone clinic (which is stupidly located in the same area as the homeless shelter and community kitchen and the area in the city where the most drug transactions and addicted individuals hang out) and then back home again. She wants to get better because she has an 8 year old son whom she wants very much to be a Mom to. She also wants to be a candidate for the Interferon treatments given to Hepatitis C patients. She can't do this until she more stable physically and emotionally.

This woman knows the underbelly of the city like the back of her hand and has survived it. She knows how to fight for her own survival. She is a fighter, and doesn't come across as a victim. Life has continued to try to rip her to shreds and yet, what I heard was a strong willed very intelligent woman who knows what she wants. She has terrific street smarts despite her wounds. AND YET..............she was losing the fight because bureaucracy was choking her with red tape.

Do you know how long it took to get her on the list for housing? 5 minutes. She will be in a brand new spotlessly clean apartment by the beginning of next month. THIS will help her immensely with respect to her healing. In another 5 minutes, she was offered a bus card to be able to travel to the clinic everyday. In another 5 minutes, she started packing up her belongings with a new sense of energy. We had a productive morning, both of us learning a great deal..........!!

After I dropped her off at her disgusting hovel of a home, I seethed...........fuck, I was mad.......and performed my best imitation of a weathered old crotchedy sailor, swearing up a storm before I tucked it back in and diplomatically entered the office of this woman's case worker. Well, maybe I didn't tuck it all in! I had to make my point.

Ok.....so that was my morning. This afternoon? A unique version of the same story.

If one tries and tries and tries........................and TRIES to jump through the hoops all the while doing everything that is asked of them and still hits a red tape brick wall time and time again, well, wouldn't you be absolutely worn out?

There is no need of this bullshit. Especially in a city the size of this one. Well, anywhere. Let's get real and deal with this incessant bullshit by helping others jump through the hoops and heal!!