Waiting In Virginia

      From WTVR in 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. ..

“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.” …