Welcome back fellow challengers. When you have a disability or are the caregiver of someone who does, life can get a little stressful. I have, definitely had days where I thought my world was coming to an end. If you are by yourself when these times come about it can be very painful. Let’s be honest, dealing with a disability is very complicated and trying to find solutions by yourself is not only time consuming but sometimes damn near impossible.
Possible Team Members:
Now when creating a team it’s critical to think about what is important to you (as a caregiver/individual with disability). Create a list of services you need or tasks you need to outsourced. Based on that you can go searching for people that can help you in those areas. Below is a basic list I have compiled. For this post we will be focusing on a few medical practitioners.
Family Doctor/ General Practitioner (GC)
What do they do?
Your GC is not just there if you have the flu or for your yearly check up. One of the major job functions of the GC is to refer patients to specialist. These can be psychiatrist, a variety of therapist and other medical doctors specializing in all areas of the human body. Some of these other medical practitioner will not even see you without first getting a referral letter from your GC. There is also a lot a government benefit that require a medical practitioner to sign off on the application in order to qualify for them.
How to I get one?
In Ontario most individuals already have GC, but for those without you can go to your closest hospital to ask for doctors accepting new patients. You can also register online at Health Care Connect. Check out the link below:
https://hcc3.hcc.moh.gov.on.ca/HCCWeb/faces/layoutHCCSplash.jsp
Psychiatrist
What do they do?
They are doctors that specialize in diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. They can also prescribe medication to help deal with mental illnesses, if required. They will look into your past history (biological and psychological) determine what type(s) of mental illnesses you suffer from and prescribe medication to help to manage the condition. They will also manage patient condition on an ongoing basis to ensure patients are not having adverse reactions to medications.
How do I get one?
The process to get one is fairly simple. You need a referral from your GC in order to see a psychiatrist. You can also go to places such as your local hospital but you still have to have your doctor submit a referral on your behalf. Be warned in Canada the wait times are pretty bad. Unless you are suicidal it can take months. Key takeaway is get on the waitlist ASAP. On the bright side the Psychiatrist is similar to a GC in that you are covered by Canadian health care system and won’t need to pay out of pocket.
Psychologist
What do they do?
The main job function is to study how people think, feel and behave in order to help patients understand and change their behaviours. They are not able to prescribe medication being one of the major differences between Psychiatrist. Instead of focusing on medication they focus on managing mental disorders by coming up with practical strategies that work with the individual and/or family. For example dealing with anxiety by employing the use of breathing exercises. The wait times for a psychologist are a lot shorter so if you don’t need to be prescribed medication they can be a good substitute.
How do I get one?
You do not need a referral to see a psychologist which means you can go online to book and appointment. Please do your research on your psychologist, make sure that they have a specialization in your disability. Please note that their services are typically not covered under Canadian healthcare system (at least in Ontario not sure about rest of Canada). Some company health plans do cover treatment so best to check their first.
In addition to the above there are also a whole host of therapist from all areas such a physical, mental, and behavioural. You can also check out the link below for how to connect to additional medical professional (note Ontario only).
There you have it, A few additional team mates to help you take on the challenge. Just remember that the more people you can recruit to your team the easier it will be. Also as a side note don’t forget that you don’t always have to pay for these services out of pocket just because they are not covered by the standard health care system. There is company extended healthcare plan as well as governmental benefit such as ODSP (FYI we will talk about that in a future blog post) you can utilize. Good luck recruiting, fellow challengers.