Lets Call her Mea-My, Not her Real Name

 By Kendall Worth!

 

 

 

So a few days ago I spent some time with a women who choose the name Mea-My. The reason why I do not use real names when I talk about  First Voice Stories on my BLOG, is because, as I describe in this post, becuase some people have experienced stigma directed toward them by people who know them from outside of their Comfort Zones . I talk a lot about this Stigma Here and, in the past elsewhere,  here .

Monthly,  Mea-My receives $1005.00 Plus a $316.00 rental Subsidy that = $1321.00 a Month. Then she Receives the $40.00 Special Needs Telephone allowance = $1361.00. It turns out that she cannot presently get any special diet allowances because her doctor does not support the expectations of the Income Assistance Case Worker, assigned to her file. If you look at this article Here you will see the full report on the impact of the decision by her Doctor and others. 

She pays $1052 a month for rent so subtract this amount from $1361.00 = Gives her $309.00 left,  then her $40.00 Special Telephone goes directly on her phone so that = $269.00 a month. Even though she is not getting the $318.00 a month Disability Supplement, her caseworker recently informed her, that she is currently working on something where she may start that supplement Soon. Fingers Crossed for Mea-My.

Approval for Special Diet allowances requires notes from Doctors with a Medical Diagnosis. Mea-My tells me that in the past her Doctor wrote notes for Special Diets, but for every note, the Doctor was contacted by the Caseworker. The note and the diagnosis was questioned by someone with out medical training.  

In this BLOG post I point out how the issue of "Special Diet Approval" was never touched during Employment Support and Income Assitance Transformation under the previous Liberal Government.  In this  post I report on what should have been doneto improve access to  Special Diet Allowances. Mea-My's Doctor's reasons are no different from what the articles and posts in these links addresses.

I asked Mea-my " Can you Clarify when the last time ever was when your doctor written a note for a Special Diet and also have you ever tried to appeal the decision of your Special Diet Notes not getting accepted through the ESIA appeals Process?"

 She answered those Questions by saying "The last time my Doctor written a required medical note for a Special Diet was sometime at-least a year before COVID. Also Between 2021 and 2018 I have tried appealing it through the ESIA appeals process 3 different time and all 3 times it got denied through the appeal hearing." He writes the diabgnosis and the notes and they are rejected.  That is why he gave up and will not support the expectations of her Income Assistance Caseworker,  moving forward.The bottom line here is that the approved amount for Special Diets Allowances needs to be increased, and questioning of the MD diagnosis,  by a financial aid worker/caseworker must stop!!

 Mea-My tells me that she lives day to day, dealing with the Social Isolation  the best way she knows how. Mae-My tells me that she wishes the Social Prescribing Organization / Social Prescription program I am advocating for,  in some of my other BLOG posts, was already up and running. Mea-My tells me that even though, places are like Souls Harbour and Hope Cottage are around, and she goes to her food-bank on the second Tuesday of every month, she is not friends with the people she sees at these places. In fact she brought up that socializing with the people she sees when she is occasionally present at these places only makes her more depressed above and beyond the depression she already experiences every day.  

She will know more in 3 weeks, but her Doctor is advising her that she may have surgery sooner or later.  This is going to be a surgery that is going to require her to have someone with her, when she is released. Mea-My is worried about how she is going to find someone who can go home with her, to make sure her surgery is not cancelled. 

This Problem can be solved. This BLOG post here  is where I brought up the idea of a Non Professional Friendship Peer Support Worker. This also is why as described Here trying to make the case that as part of the Halifax Model of Social Prescribing, an expansion of Peer Support Services is needed. In Mea-My’s Case, plus in the cases of others,  who need to go to the hospital for day surgery who are required to have someone with them to make sure that there surgery is not cancelled.  This is just one out of many areas where a Non-Professional friendship support can be a benefit for anyone who lives in a situation where Social Isolation is encouraged.

 

Anyway This concludes Mea-mys Story!