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Can the Ontario Government Suck AND Blow?

So your spouse, child, mother, brother, friend is injured in a car accident.  They broke both legs and have been quickly discharged from hospital.  An Occupational Therapist visits the home and prescribes some equipment, sets them up on the main floor, makes sure they have options for bathing, toileting, sleeping, can eat and get out of the house if they needed to, and calculates the amount of care they need in order to safely survive at home in this state.  This is calculated in minutes of care, and converted to a dollar benefit based on pre-determined (government) hourly rates. 

Prior to 2010, this money (attendant care) would be given to the client, and they could use this to pay the providers of their care.  They could choose the provider based on many factors, with most selecting the person that they were least embarrassed with in the washroom and shower.

In September 2010, FSCO decided that this benefit would only be provided when the care provider could prove an “economic loss”.  I get why they wanted to do this.  Too often, attendant care monies were “improving” the financial position of the injured (extra income) and was not always being used for care.  As it is inherent in the insurance act to not “advantage” people, the industry decided they needed to make some changes.

Proving an “economic loss” became a hot topic.  Some insurers wanted to only pay the amount of the loss, and others would pay the amount of attendant care benefit (as calculated by the OT), as long as a loss existed.  This issue was tried in court, and in Henry vs Gore (2013) the decision was that “the extent of the economic loss was irrelevant…as long as there was any economic loss during the period in question the person can qualify for the services they provided…”

Then, just last month this decision was overturned by the Ontario government, the SABS were amended, and now people providing care cannot receive more “than the extent of the economic loss sustained by the attendant…as a direct result of providing the care…”

So, I ask, can the government really suck and blow?  I guess so because there are so many elements of this that both defy logic and are clearly unfair.  Here is my list:

  1. So, if my economic loss is $100 / week (I work part time at Tim Horton’s), I get $100 / week even when the care needed is calculated at more.  So, if the care is calculated at 24 hours / day (as it can be) I get paid .59 cents per hour.  Is that legal?
  2. Then the reverse must also be true.  If I make $10,000 / month (as some people do) then I would get paid $10,000 / month (my economic loss) to provide care, right?  WRONG.  The max is $6000 regardless, and I suspect the insurer would only pay me the amount of the benefit which is often less than the max.  So, they cannot “advantage” me, but they can “disadvantage” me?
  3. So, I guess they will pay the full amount for private care then, right?  WRONG.  The form calculates at rates of $10.25, $13.19 and $19.35 per hour (for recent accidents) but the agencies charge $25 / hour or more.  So, the amount of hours I need is irrelevant as I can’t get the hours anyway in the calculated amount.
  4. If an agency is the only option (as my family will not work for .59 cents per hour), and most have a three hour per shift minimum, but my care is calculated at 2 hours per day, then I have to go without?  Or I guess I will just use the toilet tomorrow instead?
  5. If I was making $30 / hour and worked 40 hours / week, but now need to provide care for 80 hours / week, they will pay me at my “economic loss” hourly rate, right?  Nope.  They will pay the amount of the benefit, again calculated at up to $19.35 / hour.  So, I prove the loss, then take a loss following.
  6. If my family can’t live on .59 cents per hour, and an agency declines to work with me because of my behavior, complicated needs, or because my house is a health hazard, the insurer will change their mind and pay my family, right?  Doubt it.
Then, there are policy limits.  So, regardless of my economic loss, or the care needs of my family member, there will still only be $36K available if they are seriously injured, or $1M if they are catastrophic.

If the government wants to truly suck here, then they should not be able to blow.  Either pay an agency the number of hours needed, at the agency hourly rate, without monthly or policy limits, OR pay an unqualified provider the amount of care needed calculated at the pre-determined rates.  If you cannot advantage people, then you should not be able to disadvantage people either.  Their accident already disadvantaged them enough.

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Improve Your Concentration

Are you easily distracted?  Find it hard to concentrate or focus?  Distractions such as emails, phone calls, co-workers, and thoughts about your home life can reduce your productivity at work.  And this is a vicious cycle where by being inefficient just leads to more work, more anguish, and more inefficiency!  The following from Health.com provides great tips to stay focused, complete tasks in an efficient manner, and essentially be more productive with less stress. 

Health.com: 13 Ways to Improve Your Concentration at Work

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It’s Heart Month: Recognize The Signs

According to Statistics Canada, every 7 minutes someone dies from heart disease or stroke, making these two of the three leading causes of death.  (Statistics Canada)  February is Heart Month and we will be providing heart healthy tips, recipes and more.  But beyond prevention, understanding the signs and symptoms of a heart attack is essential to early intervention and could save your life, or the life of someone around you. The following video starring Elizabeth Banks, and created by the “Go Red For Women” campaign, is both entertaining and factual.  Please view this important video, it may save your life or the life of someone you love.


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Wash Your Car!

Working in auto insurance makes me slightly paranoid about issues of vehicle safety.  Ideally, it would be great if car accidents could become extinct and people could go about their business without running the risk of becoming injured in their travels, but currently these remain one of the main causes of adult and child injury, death and disability.  So, maximizing car safety should be on the top of everyone’s list.

Years ago, in the middle of winter, I was driving home from seeing a client at night.  I was on back roads that were not lit.  My headlights were on, but I could barely see the road in front of me.  I struggled with this, assuming I had a headlight out, and managed to get to a gas station.  There, I investigated the problem and realized my headlights were just covered in the road sludge so common in Ontario winters.  I cleaned up my headlights with a window squeegee and voila!  I could see again

Prior to this, the thought of washing my headlights never occurred to me.  Why would it?  Unless you encounter a problem, this is not something I remember being taught in driver’s ed, nor something my parents mentioned to look for as I was learning to drive.  Some things we just learn in life the hard way – hoping to not be hurt in the process.

I remember when cars started to be manufactured to have headlights on automatically and all the time.  I said to my brother “I don’t get why headlights should be on during the day, they won’t help a driver to see better” and he responded with “it is so other people can see you better”, I am sure adding a brotherly “dummy” in there too.

The other day I was reminded of these lessons again.  It was a sunny day, but the roads had been a mess a few days prior.  I was driving in the right lane and needed to change into the left lane to make an upcoming left turn.  I glanced in my dirty side mirror and my rear mirror which was looking out my dirty back window, and I didn’t see anyone.  I checked my side mirror again, and noticed something that looked odd.  I focused more clearly and realized that there was another car to the left of me after all.  This was a black car, covered in the grey muck of winter.  The lights weren’t on, and what struck me was how much this car was essentially the color of the road.   The road was a grey, dirt covered mess, and this car blended right in.  Had the lights been on, or the car clean, I would have spotted this easily.

Really, both these issues with visibility when driving – to see and be seen – could be tackled with a simple car wash.  Even if this seems futile with ongoing weather coming, the short-term benefits are immense.  A clean car is easier for others to see, gives you better visibility when the windows and side mirrors are clear, and washes your headlights to make sure these are most effective.  Besides, of course, the other benefits of washing road salt and sand from your paint job.  Many gas stations have a quick car wash adjacent to the pump, and allow you to pay at the pump for convenience.  Or, some car washes are even a drive-thru format and you don’t even have to leave your car.  In the end, when it comes to road and driving safety, the added expense of giving your car a rinse could be “priceless”.

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The Alternative Limb Project: Fashion Meets Function

“It’s drawing attention to their disability in a positive way,” said de Oliveira Barata. “Rather than people seeing what’s missing, it’s about what they’ve got.” “Having an alternative limb is about claiming control and saying ‘I’m an individual and this reflects who I am.”

The Alternative Limb Project, started by London designer Sophie de Oliveira Barata, gives fashion to the function of prosthetic limbs.  The pieces created are amazing works of art that exude the individual personality of the wearer.  See more about the Alternative Limb Project here.

The Alternative Limb Project

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Food For Thought: Recipe of The Week

Recognizing that meal preparation is difficult for some people due to limited physical or cognitive ability, food or cooking knowledge, or time, we are providing healthy options that are simple, fast to prepare and nutritious.  The weekly Food For Thought recipes are recipes that can be made in bulk, stages, or the day before, or can be easily packed into a transportable lunch.

 

With the freezing temperatures and “polar vortex chill”, warm up with a nice bowl of stew.  The following beef stew recipe from spoonful.com is healthy, quick and easy to make, and easily freezable so you can enjoy leftovers another time.

 

Spoonful.com: Best Ever Beef Stew

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Make Time For Family Dinner Time

In today’s busy world it can be hard to make family mealtime a priority and in some cases it has become a thing of the past, or takes the form of people eating while texting, checking a phone, or using a game system.   However, making the time to sit and eat together has valuable physical and mental health benefits.  The following from Health magazine discusses the important advantages of family dinner time.

Health Magazine: 8 Reasons to Make Time for Family Dinner

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How do YOU do it?

I received a lovely email recently whereby the writer was painting me as some form of saint. But the question of “how do you do it” is one I have been asked before. Four kids, a business, house, dogs, a strict fitness regimen, clean-eating, volunteering, part-time MBA. This is my life and to me, nothing to be awarded a cape over.

Ironically, the question of “how do you do it” is one I too ask other people. I am inspired all the time. How do you have a job that is rigid and requires you to show up at a certain time, leave at a certain time, eat at a certain time, prevents you from seeing your child’s Christmas play, picking them up when sick, and restricts your vacation plans? How do you commute 1 hour or more to work in consistently terrible traffic? How do you manage the demands of your stressful job as a police officer, lawyer, adjuster, doctor? How do you manage the demands of caring for a sick or disabled child or an ailing parent? A medical or mental health condition? Single parenting? How did you lose 50 pounds, quit smoking, overcome cancer, beat rare odds, or kick an addiction? How did you cope with the death of your mother, father, child, sibling or spouse? How do you survive on such a restricted income, or with no support from others? Homelessness? Lack of education? How did you deal with the sudden loss of your job, the trauma you experienced as a child, or the daily struggles you might experience as someone with a disability?

We all need to remember that our own tolerances for the trials of life are very much determined by the experiences we have had up to this point. We are all saints – worthy of superhero status – for something. Our behavior, thoughts, beliefs, and practices are all explained by our past, our upbringing, and our genetics. We are all doing our best. And our future, I believe, will be ours to create with the choices we have. Perspective is everything. So, while I go about my day thinking about all the wonderful people that I encounter and that inspire me, do the same. And tell me, how do YOU do it?