A family on the Coast is fighting for justice for their father who has been cut off short-term and long-term disability and denied a special airbed that son Scott says is mandatory for his father's healing.
Bob Pauloski suffered a severe head injury while working as a pipe fitter for Tembec pulp mills in February 2004. The pipe he was working with got away from him and hit him in the head with such force it took the top of his skull off. Pauloski was rushed by helicopter to a hospital in Edmonton. On the trip, he clinically died twice.
After a seven-month battle to have Pauloski transferred to the Sunshine Coast, his son Scott said he found a deep bedsore on his father's tailbone.
"He sweat a lot because his brain wasn't working properly, and he was supposed to be turned every two hours," Scott said.
Scott saw the bedsore as evidence that care had not been adequate. He and his sister had a local doctor examine the sore.
"We were told he needed an antipressure bed but the skin specialist said they were managing it," Scott said.
By January of 2005 the bedsore was so deep it created a hole two hands wide, according to Scott.
"People can die from that," Scott said.
His father was taken to Vancouver for treatment where he spent a month and a half on the special airbed that changes firmness throughout the day, limiting the amount of turning needed for the patient. He was then transferred back to Totem Lodge in Sechelt.
"He was healing up really well and we realized he needs that bed. We asked Workers' Compensation [nowWork-Safe BC (WSBC)] to supply the bed, but they said Totem Lodge would have to do that. Totem Lodge said [WSBC} should supply it. So we were at a stalemate. Meanwhile my dad's bedsore was getting worse every day," Scott said.
He phoned around to find a place that supplied the specialized bed and found that the cost would be $6,200. Since neither WSBC nor Totem Lodge would supply the bed, Scott bought it himself, which should have ended the struggle.
But when Scott applied for reimbursement from WSBC he said the agency wrote him a cheque, then withheld a month's rent from Totem Lodge, which is about $6,500.
Scott thought it was over, but now that the new Christenson Village has opened on the Coast, he plans to move his father there at the end of the month. Totem Lodge said the bed couldn't go with him.
"They said the bed has to stay at Totem, so now Dad's out of a bed again," Scott said.
To save his father from more bedsores, Scott and his sister Lynn decided to purchase the bed for the second time."It's just ridiculous, but what are you going to do, right?" Scott said.
He then planned to send the receipt for reimbursement but noted his father's case worker said another doctor's assessment would have to be provided proving he still needs the bed.
"Our doctor has already written reports, but he'll do it again and we'll have to wait another 10 months for reimbursement. Then they'll probably take it off Dad's rent again, and we'll be in the same situation," Scott said. "It's not fair and it's not right."
And now that his father has turned 65, under Work-Safe law he is cut off from his short-term and long-term disability payments. That is something the family can dispute, but only if they can prove Bob would have worked past the regular retirement age.
"He would have kept working. There was one time Dad was on his way to work and he hit some ice and rolled his truck and his hand got caught underneath it. He spent half an hour digging his hand out, and then he hitchhiked to work. He was that kind of guy," Scott said.
Scott is still in the process of trying to have his father's benefits reinstated but expects it to be a long haul. "Everything takes a year to get done with them, it seems," he said.
WorkSafe BC communications spokespeople finally returned Coast Reporter phone calls at press time. However, communications specialist Donna Freeman said she would need written approval from the family and a day to prepare before commenting.
