Low Staffing Levels Force Closure of Social Services Call Center on Wednesdays Starting Tomorrow
Press release from the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS):
The Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), Social Services Call Center will be closed Wednesdays starting Dec. 1.
The Call Center will continue operating from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
The following Social Services offices will also remain open five days a week:
- Eureka, 929 Koster St.
7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.- Hoopa, 535 Airport Road
9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.- Fortuna, 3306 Renner Drive
8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.- Garberville, 727 Cedar St.
9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.The decision to close Wednesdays was made as staffing levels in the Health and Nutrition Services Division have dropped to 58% between vacancies and staff on leave. The decision will be re-evaluated in three months, and Recruitment for Eligibility Specialists is ongoing.
Call Center Manager Sarah Cahill said, “We have hit a critical point where customers and staff are suffering. If we have limited ability to increase the amount of people doing the work, we must look at a way to allow the people we have to increase the amount of work they are able to complete.”
Closing one day a week will give the nearly 25 Call Center staff the ability to spend the day conducting interviews and processing existing applications for CalFresh and Medi-Cal.
Existing clients can still call during closed hours and use the Interactive Voice Response system to access account balances and request replacement forms. EBT card holders can also call the number on the back of their cards to get account balances.
To apply for Medi-Cal, CalFresh or CalWORKs online, visit www.BenefitsCal.com. The Call Center staff can be reached Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 1-877-410-8809.
To learn more about working as an Eligibility Specialist for DHHS and to apply, visit www.humboldtgov.org/jobs.
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If the corrupt managers tried supporting their staff instead of doing everything they can to ruin their lives this would not be a problem. Connie Beck is the most evil person I’ve ever known. Her management staff is also terrible. The employee services analysts are also hideous. There’s no amount of money that would convince me to work for DHHS again.
Maybe streamlining the application procedures should be considered. Otherwise this makes it more difficult for people in need to access services to which they are entitled.
If you have never had to go through the humiliating & invasive process to get help in Humboldt, please refrain from insulting those of us who understand what I am talking about
I worked all my life and once the doctor put me on disability. I had to stand the welfare line They almost made me give up except I had some valium to help me through the experience. An older friend told me it was so bad they need an armed guards. After my experience there I could see why.
I had a good friend go through a similar experience. He worked hard all his life until he physically could not. They treat everybody like a piece of scum worthless drug addict. Many people who are already feeling terrible about asking for aid are met by staff and management with utter disrespect and at a time when they could really use a kind word. It’s disgusting that we have people like that in charge of this program. Not everybody applying is an asshole trying to take advantage!!
It takes a remarkably principled human to not become jaded after hearing for the thousandth time about how a person’s car broke down on the way to the required appointment they missed again or that they got fired from the few jobs they had because their boss took against them personally. Not showing up for the tenth time never had anything to do with it. Or that they can’t fill out the paper work when the didn’t even put down their name or date of birth. Or that their bad back keeps them from working when you saw them out the window park their lifted truck, jump out, move stuff from the back to the cab, charge across the parking lot but be moaning and groaning, bent in half, when they come to the receptionist. Then reversed the process when they left. Or the person who really aroused sympathy and was exceptionally accommodated with special effort then blew off all the help. A few times of seeing a person, who could barely walk when they were in the welfare office that morning, heaving 12 packs of beer onto the checkout counter from under the cart and it kinda shatters the faith. The endless stream of hidden income and resources, half truths and exaggerations is exhausting. There are only two job offers I refused in my life were one from IRS and the other from social services. Too likely to damage the psyche. Working in an allied field was hard enough.
Everyone could use a kind word, including the people tasked with sorting out the crap from the facts. And having heard all the stories a million times before, and knowing just how likely they are to be true, don’t be surprised at that making people feel good about it is not a professional requirement. Making people feel good about bad stuff is what mother’s are for. Someone may want to talk about their bad luck and get a little sympathy. But the welfare office does not fill that place. The next ten people needing something real are waiting in line.
The humiliating and invasive process exists because people like to steal services to which they are not entitled, and making it easier to do that is the Governor’s responsibility.
Vax mandate? Thanks for playing Shot, or not?