If you've ever had to go to the Department of Social Services in Onondaga County, you know you need to bring along some patience. Average wait times were a few hours for a typical visit. Earlier this year, the department installed technology to significantly reduce the wait time for some of its clients. Iris St. Meran checks in to see if there's been an improvement.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Kiosks are the answer to long wait times for clients to submit paperwork at the Onondaga County Department of Social Services.
"About a year ago we were looking at the volume of people coming to our department on a daily basis. The line's literally going out the Civic and so we started analyzing why people were coming here," said Onondaga County Department of Social Services - Economic Security Commissioner Sarah Merrick.
Many of them just need to submit paperwork and then verify that they did. These kiosks can do both.
"It's ideal for any person that currently gets temporary assistance, SNAP. We require a lot of ongoing information to be submitted," said Merrick.
Merrick said the volume of work is the same, this process just makes the most of the client's time. And it is also secure, the documents are uploaded to the state's website and workers who are assigned to the case have access to it. Eight of the machines were installed 14 weeks ago and the commissioner said the wait time to submit paperwork has been reduced from a few hours to a matter of minutes.
Anthony Turner, a kiosk attendant, demonstrated the process, taking him only 30 seconds. About 200 people use the kiosk daily, and Turner said the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
"They actually give me hugs, handshakes, they're really excited,” said Turner.
And you're in luck; Merrick said there are plans to expand the services offered to other key agencies in the community.
Merrick added each kiosk costs $12,000, which includes programming and the cost of equipment.