RICHMOND, Va. — For the past year, Lowrine Ford's pain has only gotten worse.
"It's hard. I'm in pain all the time," she said. "I sleep about three hours a night because I'm hurting all the time. My feet, my legs stay swollen. I can't hardly walk at times. I'm in so much pain."
Rheumatoid arthritis causes her joints to swell, burn, and ache, making her job as a home health aide — where she is constantly on her feet — nearly impossible.
And for the better part of a year, she has been waiting to hear from the Social Security Administration (SSA) whether she qualifies for disability benefits.
She is near despair.
"I need my disability," she said. "I've worked all my life. I've been working ever since I was 16 years old, and now I'm 59 and my money is in there, but they don't want to give it to me."
The pain forced the now part-time aide to give up her full-time job. She applied for disability benefits from the SSA in April of last year, but months later she is still struggling to find out where her application stands.
"It's very hectic. I had been calling them for months and months. But every time I call, they tell me — this computer comes on and says, 'We're not accepting calls today. Call back another day,'" she said.
On top of the difficulty in finding someone to help her, the SSA has sent her conflicting signals.
"Then finally, when I do call back, and actually get somebody, they tell me that, on August the 23rd of last year, I was denied," Ford said. "And so they say I was denied, but I didn't get any kind of paperwork or anything saying that I was denied."
But while Ford never got documentation from the SSA about her denial, her online account continued to show a different story.
"They had I was in 'Phase Three,'" Ford said. "They were reviewing my medical history. And then after all of this, it goes to 'Phase Four.' Now it's back on 'Phase Three' again. So I really don't know what to do. I'm very confused, to be honest with you."
I reached out to a spokesperson for the SSA multiple times to ask whether someone might be able to give Ford some clarity on the apparent contradiction on her SSA account.
Finally, Ford did hear from a representative.
"She said she was reevaluating all of my information, and she was going to turn everything to the disability board, the one that makes the decisions," Ford said. "And she said she would be in touch with me."
Ford says the information the SSA has now had for more than nine months should be extensive.
"I have the bad arthritis. It began with the rheumatism, arthritis. I can't pronounce it like it is, but when you are diagnosed with that, you're considered already disabled," she said. "And they know that I have that, because my doctors already sent the paperwork in to them, stating that I do have this arthritis, and I shouldn't be working at all."
Data from 2023 shows that in Virginia it typically takes 228 days, slightly longer than the national average of 222 days, for a decision on disability from the SSA.
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Since Ford is already beyond 285 days, she said she hoped her conversation with the representative last week, which streamlined her application, has not reset her clock, and that a decision could be imminent.
"I have to get up early to get ready so that I can leave here on time," said Ford. "And I take all this medication. The medication drains me and takes so much out of me. I'm taking about 30 pills a day, about six injections a day. Nobody needs to be working taking that kind of medication."
I heard back from a Social Security spokesperson last Thursday who said a representative's intervention would not delay a decision.
Nonetheless, Lowrine Ford continues to wait.
Because her condition has dramatically reduced how much she can work, a friend has started a GoFundMe to help with Ford's considerable medical expenses.
If you would like to help, click here.
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