Newspaper Details Family's Adjustment to Father's Work Injury
Wednesday, December 28, 2016 | 0
A Vancouver, Washington, daily newspaper details one man's experience with the workers' compensation system after he was paralyzed in a work accident, in a story published this week.
A hay bale weighing almost a ton fell onto Juan Rubio a few hours into his workday on Oct. 30, breaking his spine, the Columbian reports. The father of two now uses a wheelchair.
Rubio's wife, Lindsey, said she's been wrangling with one bureaucracy after another, trying to get her husband what he needs since the accident.
Rubio was discharged from the hospital on Dec. 13 and has 12 different prescriptions. On a recent day, it took a half hour of "pleading on the phone with workers' compensation, then more back-and-forth with the pharmacy" just to fill one, the Columbian reported.
Lindsey has also been "wrangling with the state Labor & Industries department" to get a shower and toilet chair Rubio can use. They got one approved last week, but it is being constructed in New York and won't arrive until some time in 2017.
Rubio is currently living in a hotel, with workers' compensation paying for home modifications. The estimate Lindsey says the family received for home modifications was $57,000, slightly over the maximum amount workers' comp will pay.
Lindsey also recently learned that the family's insurance plan had been canceled by Rubio's employer, the Lagler Dairy farm in Brush Prairie, Washington. She was able to obtain insurance for herself and daughters Ashlee, 10, and Isabela, 4, from the state, and an insurance plan for Rubio through the private market.
Rubio is disqualified from receiving state benefits because he got his permanent resident status this year.
A GoFundMe page set up to help the family adjust and pay for the home remodel and other expenses had raised more than $13,000 as of Monday.
Read The Columbian's story here.
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