My story with ICBC

It has been over a year now since my bike on car accident September 26th 2019. I was cycling along Hillside Ave in a hurry on my way from one job to another. A vehicle was signalling right at the lights ahead, and I felt safe to continue on in the bike lane. Once it was to late, I noticed they were signalling to turn into the gas staton ahead of the lights and not the lights themselves.

They cut into the lane and I clipped the back right of their vehicle with my front wheel. No damage to their vehicle, but my bike dropped and slid across the pavement, as I carried forward and landed a few feet ahead of my bike on my shoulder, elbow and wrist.

A witness came to check on me and advise me on what to do. IE. don’t go to work, go to the ER, and get checked out. If the injury is worsened at work it could really muddy the waters for who is responsible, and I will be reimbursed for the work I miss as a result of the accident. I was in shock and unaware of how severe the injuries were. The driver of the vehicle was profusely apologetic and kind. I decided to bus over to the Jubilee Hospital, where I got checked out. Just soft tissue damage.

Friends advised me to keep track of everything, and listed all their favourite health practitioners, injury lawyers, etc. Things were really tight and painful especially along my upper back and shoulder.

I was taught in school that conditions addressed with greater immediacy respond better to treatment. So I started treatment as soon as I as able. I went for many acupuncture and massage treatments, and found them to offer some relief in a 1 step backward, two steps forward kind of way. Initially things would flare up and be aggravated, but as they settled in I felt greater range of motion and less pain. The true concern was not at the temporary inconvenience of it all, but the thought of having linger health issues from this incident for the foreseeable future.

Given my training in Acupuncture I was also able to give myself treatments here and there, emphasizing distal points for acute strain, of the neck and back, and distal shoulder release points. (Luozhen, Yaotong, Shousanli [LI10] )

With help from ICBC, good friends, benevolent strangers and great practitioners, I am on the other side of that trial.

I’m sharing this post to help others in navigating their recovery. There are so many options to get you through your recovery. Hopefully the injuries you and perhaps others incurred were as minor as mine. Either way know that you are entitled to a great number of recovery supports, immediately and without referral or question.

ICBC realized that they end up having to pay more if people have to wait for confirmation to get treatment. If someone’s supported recovery is delayed, they recover more slowly, require more treatments, suffer more, and cost ICBC more money.

Everybody wins, when the injuries are addressed as promptly as possible,

The services covered by ICBC include: Acupuncturists Chiropractors Clinical counsellors Kinesiologists Massage therapists Medical assessment providers Occupational therapists Physicians Physiotherapists Psychologists

Starting out with severe symptoms patients may want to schedule appointments as frequently as 2-3 times a week. In many cases practitioners offer direct billing to ICBC, and you will have little to no out of pocket expense. You just need your claim number and the date of incident.

Quickly as a things level out and improvements continue, we space treatments out to weekly, and if continued support is needed, biweekly. we like to see that the patients condition doesn’t revert to it’s previous state too much between treatments, and that informs the spacing of appointments.

Whatever your treatment preferences are, chances are it’s covered. At Acuity, I direct bill ICBC, and my patients have no out of pocket expense for their treatments. Having been through the rigmarole of coordinating my care and recovery, I know a lot of time and effort goes into scheduling and attending appointments. For this reason I work to make my appointments as convenient, and effective as possible the fewer treatments you need, the better I am doing my job.

If you or someone you know has been effected by a motor vehicle accident make sure to be informed about your care options, and take full advantage of the supports that are available to get you feeling better as soon as can be.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch, or schedule a free consult.

If know you could use a treatment, you can schedule by clicking here

https://acuityacupuncture.janeapp.com/#/staff_member/1/treatment/1