Brent McGillis: May 25, 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

Man what a life!

I would have never guessed that I would be teetering on the verge of homelessness, simply because I fell off a steel rafter busting some Iron together and now I am disabled. The idea that WCB Alberta would have intelligent employees (Claims managers) working for them is a delusion. And further that any of these Claims Managers would have even the most rudimentary medical knowledge is absolutely absurd. If any of these humans exist at WCB Alberta , I certainly have not met any of them. At the very core of this issue is the Stalig 13 type atmosphere at WCB Alberta . If you so much as sneeze the word "OW" you will be terminated from all treatments, benefits and pensions you may have been entitled to at one time in a fictional Alberta. The very idea that a person with less medical knowledge than myself (Ironworker) is in charge of my benefits is absolutely asinine.
When a seriously injured worker who has suffered multiple back injuries, gets injured at physio and reports it, it is incumbent on the Claims manager to order tests. These tests would be to investigate the reported injury. Simply cutting off the claimant and not returning his phone calls, or written communiques is not collaboration on my case plan Colleen. And it is certainly not what Colleen Bamford claims is working with all stakeholders towards the same goal. There is, and never will be, any single stakeholder with a larger stake in this claim than Brent McGillis. Her plan is simple, Obey..Sieg Heil or your entire file will be terminated. What ever happened to the WCB Mantra of working with stakeholders? Her case management is called a dictatorship, and is not conducive to an effective recovery plan map. A recovery plan map that does not include the injured worker in any participatory capacity is not a plan that is achievable.
To be totally blunt, my Case managers has ever tried to work with me or consult me on any of their case plans, ever.

When a Ironworker falls and lands flat on his back, guess what?, there are going to be complications. Being that my injury was not 100 % properly diagnosed at the Royal Alexandra Hospital is not my fault. And it is not their (RAH) fault either. They live under the guidelines of Alberta Health. Their primary goal is to kick you out the door and free up a bed.
I was under the misguided delusion that once I had arrived at the Millard Health Facility, my complete injuries and side effects of these injuries would be assessed. I was under the deluded idea that the Millard Center was a true "Multiple Disciplinary Rehabilitation Facility".
It is a phoney baloney health center. (A real Licensed Hospital or Health Clinic in the Province of Alberta is not allowed to use threats or coercion.) Protection for Persons in Care Act of Alberta. I did not make this Law, the Alberta Government did.
Man was I stupid. The very first thing they did was introduce me to DR. RENCHKO. He blurted, "Lots of people have steel parts in their bodies". And I retorted; "Yah, but not in their friggin spine!! Good God! I don't appreciate having my injury mocked by Medical Professionals, who are my Medical Guardians. It was all I could do to climb onto the examination table, and lay down. This experience was rapidly taking on a bizarre DISTORTION that I simply had not seen coming. Actually being MOCKED by the very people delegated by LAW to help rehabilitate me. I was in complete and total bewilderment. Never before in my entire life had I felt so belittled, insulted, and degraded. I was already under extreme physical duress, now Millard was embarking on a program of applied Mental Duress. And they were acting with Malice. A doctor trivializing my injury while I struggle to get on and off of his examination table. There is trivial about a serious fall.
At this point I was feeling extremely vulnerable, lonely, insulted and helpless. Since I knew that if this was the first encounter this whole gong show (Millard Health Center) was going downhill at a frightening pace. This was the first time in my LIFE that I had actually met a Rent-a-Doc. I guess the bottom 10% of grads need jobs too, just like any other trade.
That was the first exposure to WCB ick that I had to endure. I felt violated and degraded.
The next encounter with there vocational people was uneventful, except for suggestions of helping me find another job. I already had a job that I was to mangled to return to. Their idea is for you to start flipping burgers or something, that doesn't cost them a dime. Good job WCB.
After that they decided that it would be a good idea for me to be subjected to their FCE. You climb a 6 foot ladder, walk on a board. Lift a crate a few times. During this evaluation, I told the woman who was giving me this evaluation about my other injuries. I even demonstrated that I was unable to stand straight up, because of my right knee that was blown in the fall. She off course retorted that there was nothing about that stuff on her report. She would not record any of those concerns, except to write in her report that, "I imagined my injuries to be greater that they actually were."
More flippant remarks from another unremarkable human being used to making no useful contributions to society. Then to cap it all off she herded me into a room with camera's and microphones to make me sign a document saying that I had already signed off on any previous injuries. I told her that I never signed off on my previous back injury and would not do so now. She left for a while, returned and told me that I would not have to sign that document.
The final day was the next day, when I met with Bruce Eidick. He is Millard's RTW director. He met me and described while we were walking down the hallway to another room with camera's and microphones that I would be subjected to an intense program 5 days a week, 5 hours a day of Intense physiotherapy. I told him, "No you're not". I still had steel Rods and Screws in my Spine. There was no way in Hell, then or now that I would let a bunch of Hillbilly hacks risk further injuring my already mangled back. I did not suffer a broken leg. I broke the housing for my Spinal Cord. I know that the WCB of Alberta does not give a sh*t about my back. This is a news flash for the dummies. I only have one back, and it is now horribly deformed and mangled. Maliciously applying even more mental duress really was not an appropriate form of action at this point in my recovery.
After he could not find one of his surveillance rooms to film me signing the WCB's malicious document. A document designed to maximize duress on a client to the point where it will force a client to the absolute breaking limit. These tactics are designed to mentally stress out a client. Thus achieving their goal of attacking you credibility. I told Bruce Eidick that I would show up every single day I could, and do whatever I could. I would treat every person in that facility with respect. But I would not sign a legally binding document with unachievable goals that were impossible for me to fulfill in my weakened and battered state, and now under severe duress. Those goals were impossible then, and they are impossible today.
Is mental and physical torture of a severely injured worker a new Conservative Value? Or is it an Old Conservative Value?