Project: Comunidades Unidas Apoyando a Envejecientes (Communities United Supporting the Elderly)
Organization: Center for Advocacy for Rights & Interests of the Elderly (CARIE)
Philadelphia, PA
Story submitted by Mayra Palencia, Outreach Specialist

Story of Mrs. Vargas

Let me tell you the story of Mrs. Vargas. Mrs. Vargas has white hair, she is soft-spoken, and at 88, quite frail. When we first met, she was with her daughter, Jenny, and Mrs. Vargas was obviously frustrated. After being in this country for seventeen years, she got caught up in a bureaucratic tangle with Social Security. She and Jenny had gone back to Columbia to visit relatives, and Mrs. Vargas got sick. Her doctor advised her not to fly until she had recuperated, and so her visit stretched to six months. When they returned, Jenny and Mrs.Vargas went to Social Security to reinstate her survivor's benefit. They were not provided a worker who spoke Spanish, and Mrs. Vargas was told that her benefit was reduced from $500 to $350 per month. To make matters worse, the Social Security worker was rude and commented that Mrs. Vargas should consider herself lucky to be receiving even that much!

I started by calling the Social Security office and talking to the outreach staff person I knew from other contacts. He gave me the name of the supervisor and the person who met with Mrs. Vargas. I was told that the best way to get this started was to write a letter to Social Security to reinstate benefits—he also assured me that he would make a formal complaint on Mrs. Vargas’ behalf regarding the treatment by the Social Security caseworker. Mrs. Vargas received a letter in the mail telling her that her case was under investigation—after about three weeks she received another letter that stated a mistake was made and she was to get her full Social Security amount restored, as well as back benefits of $1,700.

I continued to work with Mrs. Vargas and found out that she had other issues. First, she told me she was buying her medications and sometimes going without when she ran out of money. I was able to help her fill out a PACE (Pennsylvania’ prescription program for the elderly) application. Before she had her PACE card, she was spending more than $200 for just one of her medications; now she pays just $30 a month for all five prescriptions. While I was working with Mrs. Vargas and Jenny, they told me how it felt not to be a citizen and of their dream of becoming citizens of the United States. I made an appointment with HIAS, a public interest law group that helps with immigration and citizenship issues and I arranged to attend with the Vargas’ because HIAS does not have a Spanish-speaking attorney. The process took about eight months and at age 89, she was able to vote in the last Presidential election.

I helped Mrs. Vargas to get hearing aides, and to move to a new apartment. In the words of Mrs.Vargas, "I feel more secure and happy being an American citizen. I'm very proud of it. I admire CARIE because they treated us with respect and didn't treat us less because we were immigrants. I can communicate with them in my own language. "Muy contenta!" Mrs. Vargas has offered to volunteer with CARIE—she knows how she was helped and wants to do the same for others who might be in her same situation.

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