Have your rabbi call Jewish Family Services, or the equivalent Oregon agency (I don't live in the US, but I know they have it there).

For some reason that seems to speed up the process. The first time here when I talked to JFS I was homeless after the accident, and could not provide papers, etc., that I was Jewish, or even a citizen here--all of which they wanted to see, so no help was forthcoming.

Before I had surgery for the brainstem tumours last spring, my rabbi rang them (and didn't even tell me about it til after it was a done deal) to arrange for groceries, home help, a coat and a pair of shoes, and transportation--and there were no problems whatsoever that time.

It may be a matter of luck who you speak to at any agency, but if it's a Jewish agency, it seems having your rabbi make the initial contact cuts through a lot of red tape in case it's one of the more 'bureaucratically minded' types.