Senator Michael Frerichs Office Week Eighteen

Monday May 17th, 2010:

This past week due to an ongoing illness I had minimal opportunity to work within the district office. Honestly, I do not fall ill often; however, when I do fall ill it seems to be quite a fight in terms of recovery. I still do not feel 100% percent today but will forge ahead as much work needs to be completed in the office.
On a side note: Our new summer intern Sarah Tanaka begins her internship today. Laurie texted me this morning to let me know that she would be into the office late this morning; therefore I needed to be at the office by 9 a.m. sharp to unlock the office for Sarah.

This morning Sarah and I began to work on the numerous local newspapers which had begun to due to my absence. The task is not too exciting; however, it must be completed. As I was reminded late least week when Senator Frerichs asked questions concerning my blog, he is in an election year. The effort which myself and other interns put forth to clip all of these articles and prepare them for mailing is not for naught as it will certainly garner further recognition of Senator Frerichs and may lead to additional votes in November.

As I have mentioned before this process regarding “Saw You in the News” clippings is quite extensive and time consuming.

With the remainder of my office hours today, I began to work diligently on the series of constituent letters which were still in the box awaiting correspondence. The letters which needed to be responded to depicted concern related to diabetes treatment issues (schools), illegal immigration (AZ), telecommunications etc. A few letters too remained in the inbox from inmates which needed a call into the Department of Corrections in order to properly address their concerns.

Tuesday May 18th, 2010:

This morning Sarah and I finished the work which needed to be completed related to the “Saw You in the News” clippings. Due to the many steps which are involved to prepare these pieces for mailing oftentimes once one of the several tasks are completed I or one of the interns will put it off to the side for later completion. As this task is not too glamorous it can often become boring and exhaustive.
Work continued related to the constituent letters which I referred to yesterday. Our office has had some issues which I have expressed in earlier entries related to technology (computers) which often deters progress related to projects. My personal computer in the office will not allow me to save any type of Microsoft office project or print a document. Therefore, I have to ask either Laurie to do so or Sarah. Today, I waited for Sarah to leave at noon to continue work related to the constituent correspondence.

In the meantime, I worked to respond to a few emails which I knew I could send an appropriate response. The emails showed concern related to education funding. This is an issue which I am truly aware of and I myself have begun to feel the effects which the inability of the State to pay its bills has had upon the University and the State of Illinois as a whole.

Upon Sarah’s leave, I was able to respond to the remainder of the hard-copy letters and prepare them for mailing.

Wednesday May 19th, 2010:

Primary task of the morning completed: clip the morning newspaper as to prevent a considerate number of newspapers to begin to form a pile on the back counter.
With the office in great shape due to the hard work which I have put forth these past few days only a few tasks remain which I need to complete.

This morning Laurie assigned a project to Sarah to complete. Sarah will continue to work and follow-up with the individuals in the 52nd District who work in a non-profit who have an interest in a grant PDF which our office receives on a monthly basis. One of our previous interns, Ayesha, was not too computer savvy and thus the spreadsheets and contact information in the Gmail account needs to be looked over for errors. An email which Ayesha sent out to these individuals received a generous amount returned in the form of bounce backs. Therefore, if this task is to be successful and worthwhile for our office and the Senator’s constituency it must be completed correctly.

While Sarah began her work on this project, I began to work on the emails which have amassed the week prior in the inbox without my attention. The topic of emails show a wide variety: Budget FY11 concerns, cancer treatment accessibility, educational issues, telecommunications issues, etc.

When I began to write responses to these various emails the inbox contained near 130 emails. Upon the time which I had left the office at the end of the day the inbox had numbered around 17. It is a great feeling to see the office in such great shape which allows for all tasks to be completed in a timely manner.

Prior to leaving the office for the day, I too completed all of the filing which needed to be completed.

Thursday May 20th, 2010:

With the office in a great state, the stress related to the completion of tasks had been lifted. I clipped the morning newspaper and Sarah updated a few emails on the contact list of non-profits. Sarah left the office early after she completed the updates.

I continued to answer constituent phone calls and investigate constituent casework issues which had been brought to my attention via phone call. A few issues which I had the chance to look into and return today concerned the Human Services Department and Medicaid and Medicare.

An individual who was on Medicaid and Medicare called into the office and had state that she had been offered a life insurance policy by JcPenney. She contacted our office in an effort to seek out whether or not it would be in conflict with her Medicaid and Medicare if she opted into the plan. Upon contacting the Human Services Department I was told that if the plan was in excess of $2,000 it certainly would have an effect.

Another individual who had lost her Medicaid and Medicare card due to her son turning 19 contacted our office to see if we could be of any assistance in her obtaining a new card as she was a cancer patient and needed the card to obtain affordable treatment. Upon contacting the Department of Human Services I was told that she had submitted a form which needed to be approved which often takes up to 75 days.

After completing these few tasks, I used the remainder of my time in the office this afternoon to seek out available assistantships. Both Laurie and the Senator are in high hopes that I will come across an available position but the stress is honestly beginning to mount as every avenue I check ends in a dead end in some form.

Friday May 21st, 2010:

The office remains in top-shape. Therefore, I answered phone calls from constituents with concern to a variety of issues and answered a variety of emails. Otherwise, the office was quite calm this afternoon.