"We're doing everything we can to keep those pains from affecting our customers," says Steve Hayes, division director with the Guilford County Department of Social Services. Last month, about 4,000 of the department's customers were delayed in getting food stamps from a few days to more than a week. "That's where we are right now in the beginning of a vision of what we will be in the future. And there are growing pains getting there." The growing pains he's referring to are associated with a new computer program called NC FAST.
"The way the system works now, you come to social services, you see a worker for food, and another for daycare and you see another worker for Medicaid. And what we learned a long time ago is you re-traumatize a family when they have to tell their story over and over again. So NC Fast is a pilot that will eventually allow us to have one worker take all the information from a family and determine the eligibility for everything." But according to Hayes, every county is having what he calls glitches. "We had some initial problems with our computers being compatible, we had a learning curve that is very steep and NC Fast itself is a new software. But we're talking about food and we understand that it's so critical that you don't have the luxury of taking time to fix problems. You have to get them done so people can eat."
Hayes says complicating things is that in June, thousands of people were late turning in their recertification report. They're due every six months on the 15th. "The one thing you can do to make sure you are not one to wait on getting your food stamp benefits, when you get that report in the mail, complete it as fully as possible and return it on time."
In April, Guilford County DSS spent just over $11.6 million to give food stamps to 90,000 residents.
Guilford County is one of five test sites for NC Fast. On May 20, DSS workers here and in Johnston, Carteret and Catawba Counties rolled it out. Bumcombe County initiated NC Fast last month. Sherry Bradsher is Director of Social Services with the state Dept. of Health and Human Services. She says while these glitches are difficult, a system upgrade is long overdue. "Most of these programs are supported by mainframe systems that are programmed with old technology, and some of the systems that are supporting these programs right now are 35 years old." NC Fast will upgrade seven social service programs, including Medicaid and Child Welfare. Bradsher says it will also close loopholes. "When you talk about fraud, abuse and waste, these tools help to prevent a lot of that. Because you have real-time ready information about not only what's happening in your county but whose receiving in a neighboring county, who's in that household last month, last week - so you can address any concerns while that client is sitting in your office."
Trickle Down Impact
To weather the NC Fast growing pain, DSS and other groups are hosting food drives to over-stock Guilford County food bank shelves. In June, many were hit with an unexpected flood of people needing help. "We went from doing 50 bags a day to 90 bags a day for a week," says Greensboro Urban Ministry Special Events Director Christine Byrd. "And our understanding is that this will continue to happen probably over the next six months as accounts come up for renewal." The Urban Ministry gives grocery bags of food based on how many people are in the family. Each one has enough food for about two days, including canned meat and vegetables, dry beans, rice, butter, canned fruit and sometimes eggs. "We want to provide them with some assistance until they get the services they qualify for," explains Byrd. "So we want to bridge that gap. We don't want to be their source of food." On Wednesday, July 4, families still waiting for their food stamps can get a free breakfast at the Greensboro Urban Ministry at 7 a.m. They can also get free lunch from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
According to Bradsher, progress is being made although she anticipates several more months of glitches as the food stamp program of NC Fast comes on line. Eventually she says the growing pains will pay off. "When all of the services that are within the scope of NC Fast are fully rolled out, the state will be able to retire 19 main frame systems. It's very expensive one to find anyone who can work in those systems and two to maintain those systems. It's very inefficient and much more costly than a web based system like NC Fast." The food stamp portion of NC Fast is expected to be in full operation by the beginning of 2013.
