Saturday, May 9, 2009

Wife of an injured worker voices out

I am the wife of an injured worker and I am writing on behalf of the "Family", how injury and WCB affects all the family as a unit.The injury is bad enough,but the insult by WCB ( and my husbands union) is far worse.
First, my husband has a lower back injury, although at times he looks and acts perfectly average, it is short lived. Things most people take for granted, cause him great pain, to play catch, helping the kids ride a bike, even change a diaper ( we are past that stage now), all cause irritation to his back. We also have an 8 yr old son, who is handicapped, he is a little person diagnosed with Achondroplasia with complications. As of July 2008, he has had 19 surgeries, most of his needs are are done by myself because my husband cannot physically maneuver for these low needs ( toilet, bath,lifting , carrying,etc) so I am responsible for all of our sons needs, as well as the house hold, yard work,snow shoveling, etc.
As a wife and mother, I am busy, as most of us are, but as a mother to a child with a disability, sometimes regular things take a back seat; between medical appointments, hospitalization and special needs, there is not a lot of time (or energy) for paid employment. But WCB has has forced me out there, so far my employer has been understanding to our son's needs.
As for my husbands union, what a disgrace! To claim their "brother"was not insured 3 weeks prior, or 3 weeks post injury ( 6 week period), but was insured at other times is probably one of the biggest insults of all. Unions are supposed to stand up and defend their "brothers and sisters", not kick them while they are down.
Then there is WCB, those 3 letters should be struck from the alphabet! WCB claims to be there for the injured workers, but I have yet to see this. I have seen mistreatment of the injured in the past, but now I live with it.
My husband and I , along with our children, we all suffer because of the WCB, mentally, emotionally,physically and financially; humiliation, frustration, poverty, anger all caused by WCB. My husband, like many others, is consumed by WCB - it is always there. I dread correspondence from WCB via mail, it is like receiving a letter bomb; you wait for the explosion, because you know something is about to blow!
My husbands latest injury occurred in August 99, and we are farther behind today, RRSP's and RESP's are long gone, I try to work 2 jobs to make ends meet and I pray everyday that WCB will soon be out of our lives. Unfortunatly, WCB prefers that the injured workers would just give up on their claim or drop dead, before they ( WCB ) have to part with any cash.
But we will still keep on kicking.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Jeannette Laframboise said...

We are having EXACTLY the same issues and can completely empathize except I am the injured one and my husband is forced to carry a larger load and responsiblity as I can not. I have been beaten down by the so called workers compensation to the point of pondering suicide. At least my family would be free of the burden of me and have life insurance. Why oh why have no changes been made so that he abuse of injured workers is stopped. It is beyond cruelty!

May 15, 2009 at 8:17 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

there are many of us out here and they dont give a shit ...i think in the end god will take care of those pieces of shit

February 24, 2012 at 7:43 AM  

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