How can an Ohioan speak with a person at ODJFS these days?

We are seniors in our 70s. Their phone system is always full or non-functioning. Gasoline is expensive and standing in a hot summer queue isn't useful. DH was working a FT job at a big box retail store and got laid off on May 17. It sure feels like age discrimination...but this is an at will state so any reason will do. He has filed for unemployment on the website three times and yet has still not received a claim number or any funds to tide us over until he has started receiving a paycheck from his new job. Did his previous employer ever pay into this insurance fund?; DH told me they did take payroll deductions out of his check but stubs are on-line behind his passwords. Why else would he be ineligible? I'm at my wit's end. We are rent poor as costs have escalated, but what good is a roof over one's head without certain basics that I cannot afford to pay as "emergency" funds are exhausted. Is he lying about the lay off? Signs of dementia, though otherwise healthy, that he won't acknowledge? Perhaps this is how employers and the state are keeping unemployment numbers low and "raping" senior spouses of their savings and making more and more homeless seniors on the streets. I don't have enough shovels to deal with this. I need suggestions and HELP!