TN-6

 

A 54-year-old former truck driver, caring for his two grandchildren and trying to qualify for Social Security in Englewood, Tenn.

 

Job Training

I've always been self-taught, I've never had any training.

 

Have you received job training recently? No

 

Employment

Author: The last job I had … was a truck driver. I started working in the warehouse and then I got a ride and went down and helped them unload and then I learned how to drive the truck myself. Well, now it's different from what it was when I was working when I first started, you had to get a special license to do all the kind of stuff I was doing and what I was doing you had to get a chauffer license.

 

Interviewer: Any opportunity for advancement?

 

Author: No. The pay was pretty good, and plus I worked and I didn't have nobody to tell me what to do all day long ’cause I was always gone on the road. And when I came back, I just had to drop my truck off and be gone, I didn't have to see no bosses or nothing.

 

Interviewer: Can you talk more about how that fit into your family life.

 

Author: It fit pretty good because I was divorced, didn't have nobody to have to worry about while I was gone.

 

Interviewer: When was this?

 

Author: Last I worked was in '87.

 

Have you gotten a new job, increased work hours or earnings in the recent past?No

 

Child Care

Author: Childcare, I think that I would change the law on it. For a man, or not a man, but a person like me, I got 2 grandkids, they're not my kids, but I'm taking care of them. And, like a woman, if she had the kids, they'd give her more money then they're going to give me. Now, I can't work, I haven't worked, they won't give me disability and the little money they give me for them is not enough. And, if I send them back to the state, the state has to give whoever takes them four or five times more than they give me. When I was working, I would make more in a day than I get in a whole month for them. When I first got them, when I first got my grandkids, they told me they went to school and it wouldn’t hurt my job and the first day they brought them over here, they dropped them off and I haven't seen them people since. They said they were going to come back every month to check on them, they dropped them kids off and I haven't seen them since, they ain't called me or nothing. They said if both go to school, one went to kindergarten and the other went to first grade, Head Start, and both of them had to be home by 12:00, go at 8:00 and be home by 12:00. That stepped on my job, like that.

 

Interviewer: That didn't interfere with your job?

 

Author: It did!

 

Interviewer: What were you doing then?

 

Author: I was driving the truck. But, they said, you know, I changed it where I could, you know, wouldn't go out of town, I was driving in town, but I couldn't go to work at 8:00 and come back at 12:00.

 

Interviewer: Did you arrange your schedule to take care of the kids?

 

Author: Yeah, I had to. Then I got sick and then I quit work. I was lifting when I was working, but when I was working in the warehouse, I was lifting all day long. And I hurt myself some kind of way, I don't know if it was work or what, but I hurt my back.

 

Interviewer: So, did they give you childcare assistance?

 

Author: They did, but like I said, what they gave me I made that in one day, what they gave for a month for them. I think they should change the law. If it was a parent taking care of them, but if it's somebody else taking care of them, there ought to be more money, especially if, they're like me, not working. And they're trying to get me off of that, they want me off of it ’cause of my insurance, I think.

 

Interviewer: How old are your grandchildren?

 

Author:  Fifteen and 16 and I've had them for 10 years now, no 11 years, 11 years.

 

Have you received child care assistance to help you get to work? [Does not specify.]

 

Transportation

Author: Well, most of the time I ride the bus, I don't have no car now. I have to walk up to Gallatin Road to the corner, or down on Scotts, but Gallatin Road runs faster, so I always go to Gallatin Road. But, I had trouble with the bus, last Wednesday, almost put me in the hospital, the bus man wouldn't even stop for me. I'm walking right across the street, you know the white line where you walk across the street … the bus man pull around me and kept on going. I had this [points to neck brace] on, couldn't walk faster cause it was the day after I got out of the hospital, I had to go back and see another doctor.

 

Interviewer: What about the bus fares?

 

Author: Well, I guess it's alright compared to how much gas is now.

 

Interviewer: How much time do you spend on the bus?

 

Author: If I catch it right, the hospital I go to, about 45 minutes each way. Most of the time I try to catch it where when I get downtown there's already one down there, so when I transfer I don't have to wait no long time.

 

Do you have adequate transportation to get to and from work?No

 

Health

Author: My health is in bad shape. TennCare, they won't pay for half of the stuff I need. I've heard the doctor say some tests I need, but TennCare wouldn't pay for it.

 

Interviewer: What kind of things do you need?

 

Author: I don’t, you know those doctors, he had one of classes, you know one of his students, and he was telling his student about what was wrong with my spine and back, my neck. And he was telling him and the big [thing] he was saying, I didn't know what he was saying, but I know he said the insurance wouldn't cover it. If the insurance couldn't cover it, how could I cover it?

 

Interviewer: How about the health of your family?

 

Author: They're alright, I guess.

 

Interviewer: How's health influenced your quality of life?

 

Author: Well, I can't go where I want to go half of the time, can't do what I want to do. Like, now I have furniture upstairs and I can't even get it down here because I don't have anybody to help me get it down here and I can't lift nothing. I was staying upstairs, my sister was staying down here, then she moved and then I moved down here, but I have to get somebody to help me paint and do a lot of the work down here, which then I got hurting where I couldn't do nothing and they had to operate on my neck. So, about three months it's been like this. I got furniture upstairs that I can't bring down here cause I ain't got money to pay nobody and ain't nobody going to do nothing for nothing these days.

 

Do you and your family have a regular doctor who normally provides care? Yes

 

Health Care

I can make appointments but sometimes I go and sit down and it's two or three hours before they even get to you. And, like the primary doctor, it's like I wanted to go see the doctor that did this operation.  I had to go see a primary doctor and then he got to get a … well, he had to send me to the other doctor before I can go. I can't just go see the doctor I need to see, I had to go to two different doctors. Then, I make an appointment with one and go see him and then he'll make an appointment with the other one and it might be a month later, that'll be two months between two doctors.

 

Do you now have health insurance of any kind (including Medicaid)? Yes

 

Additional Information

Author: Social security … Like, my problem right now, they'll send me to a doctor, to a doctor to see what's wrong with me, and they'll send me to a doctor to get a, like I was playing football or something, a checkup and the doctor won't do nothing but take my weight, height, look in my ears, look in my mouth, tell you to walk and this and that. And, then they write something in to social security and social security has denied my benefits. And I have had 6 operations within 5 years, 3 on my back, I had cancer … 2 cancer operations, 2 back operations and 1 neck operation and I'm still hurting. And Families First, they sent me to the same doctor. I went, ya'll had me going to a doctor and social security had me going to a doctor, the same doctor in a month apart. So, I saw the paperwork and I told the doctor and then he went and looked and it was right, so he went on and did one test, you know, did one thing and sent one to both of them instead of me have to go twice and get the same thing done. And Families First said I didn't have to go to rehabilitation which, vocation rehabilitation, and they said I didn't have to go out there and I didn't have to work, you know, but social security says I got to work. They say I can still work, that I can drive a truck. How am I going to drive a truck if I can't even sit down for 30 or 40 minutes?  And I can't lift like I used to.

 

I'd tell them to put all this space stuff and put it down here on Earth because who's going to go up there in those ships?  The people paying for it sure not going to go.

 

Interviewer: What about welfare reform?

 

Author: They need to change it. The people that got kids that, I mean, not their kids, but they got to take them and keep them out of homes, you know, keep them from going into childcare homes. I ought to change it and give them more money than they give the parent ’cause the parent want to have children and they ought to stop having them.

 

Last Question:  I expect things for myself and my family to get worse.

 

Demographics

Author’s community or neighborhood of residence: Englewood

Age: 54

Gender: Male

Last year of school completed: 11^th grade

Race: African American

Number of own children at home: 2

Household size (enter appropriate numbers):  2 Children;  1 Adult

Does Author’s partner or spouse live in the household? No

Author’s gross cash earnings for previous calendar month: $608.00  [This is cash assistance, not earnings, and undoubtedly includes either child support payments, SSI or a child’s earnings, according to the interviewer. Earnings should be listed as zero. —Ed.]

Does Author currently receive any cash public assistance or welfare? Yes

Manner: Tape recorded and transcribed