Page 46 - profiles in civil service program 2018 version

Bishop and currently serve as a Chaplain with the Department of Veterans
Affairs National Black Chaplains Association and as Baltimore Veterans

Affairs Voluntary Service Officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

I am Myron (Mike) Blank and I served in the Social Security Administration,

working on Medicare and Medicaid and made final decisions on Social
Security claims. I wrote Federal Regulations, edited government publications,
and answered public and congressional correspondence. I wrote

Congressional testimony presented by other government employees and
reviewed and criticized proposed Congressional bills. I developed and ran
nationwide health and safety conferences and trained government employees.
I oversaw health and safety surveys of hospitals and nursing homes,

establishing and running one of the first nationwide Social Security 800
telephone numbers. I also hosted site visits of Social Security and Medicare

Central Offices.

I am Martha Bouis and I served in the Social Security Administration.
I worked as a Claims Representative in the large Baltimore office for two

years processing retirement and disability claims and making sure the claims
were ready for approval. This was prior to the field offices (FOs) taking
appointments. So our waiting area for the public was always filled to

capacity. After two years, I earned a promotion to the Office of Disability
Operations (ODO) as an Authorizer. The ODO was previously known as the
Bureau of Disability Insurance. We were responsible for processing and
approving disability cases from the FOs. After a year and a half, I was

promoted to technical assistant and then to a supervisor (Unit Chief). This
was before ODO changed to modules. However, all three positions were to
make sure the disability claims were processed and dealt with in a timely and

efficient manner. I was a Unit Chief for seven years and then transferred to the
main complex as a Program Analyst, remaining in Operations at the Office of
Public Service and Operations Support (OPSOS). One of my major
accomplishments on that staff was the "Direct Contact" process. This was

developed so the Program Service Centers (PSCs) and ODO could contact the
public via a phone call(s) to resolve an issue rather than sending a request to

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