Pat Skinner might still be a medical secretary and a foster mom except for that red light at Belleview and Wadsworth.
She was waiting one evening a few years ago at the traffic light when “a guy just slammed into me.”
Only when she started having trouble remembering things and difficulty driving did she see a doctor.
It turned out she had suffered a massive brain injury.
Eventually, Skinner, now 52, had to give up her job and even her foster son.
“I couldn’t take care of him,” she said. “He ended up taking care of me.”
Now she lives on $975 a month in disability payments. And until recently, she was getting help from food stamps.
Then in November, she got a letter from the state saying her benefit would decrease.
Then came the day in February when she got five letters from the state, all generated by the state’s computer benefit system, the CBMS. They told her contradictory things about her food stamps – and they arrived in the same envelope.
“I’ve got a college degree, and I haven’t had a brain injury, and I’m having a tough time figuring this stuff out,” said Mary Turner, a friend who helps Skinner out.
One notice informed Skinner that the state had given her too much for food stamps and wanted the money back.
State officials say they are working on the problem of “noticing” – the often contradictory information that the computer system generates.
Going after overpayments caused by the CBMS is something they said they weren’t going to do. And it’s something a Denver District judge has ordered them not to do.
But Skinner said the last time she heard from the state, her case had been closed “because I hadn’t responded.”
Skinner keeps a journal now because her memory is bad. And her journal tells her she did respond, in writing. But she can’t get through on the phone to a caseworker, and she can’t drive to the Jefferson County offices to discuss it in person.
“I’ve been through so much,” Skinner said. “I just don’t know what to do now.”
