Calling all Canadian Moms!!!

[stina101803]

Hi fellow Canadians!
I was hoping that Lilah's surgery would be scheduled before my maternity leave ended, but no such luck. Her operation is set for Sept 10 and I'm supposed to return to work the 1st week of September. My boss is great and very empathetic about our situation. She's giving me extended leave until Jan 1 (no pay). I was thinking about applying for compassionate care leave under EI, but I wasn't sure if this operation falls under that umbrella. Has anyone else applied for these benefits for cranio surgery? Should I be applying for something different or maybe nothing at all?
Thanks!

[Janet]

I'm not sure if it would fall under that or not....here is the link:

http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/

[Janet]

http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/fml_index.html

There is the family leave info

[Tawnia]

Yeah I don't know if compassionate care leave would apply...I would try family leave though. Just call and ask I am sure they can let you know.

[Wyatt's Mom]

Hmm, I have no idea. I think you should just phone them. There has to be something you can use.

Good luck! Let us know what happens so that we know for future Canadians!

[stina101803]

I had a questionable experience with EI before when first going on mat leave with my son. I called them with a question and ended up calling back 2 additional times. Each call was a different person who had a different answer to my question.

I did actually phone EI a few weeks back re: compassionate care. This call wasn't any different than my initial experience. The girl told me that I couldn't apply (surprise, they seem to always say that). To be eligible I would have needed to use my maternity, parental AND sickness benefits. I would understand having to use maternity and parental benefits first, but sickness? Sickness benefits is for when YOU are sick during your pregnancy. So I asked her for clarification, "So for in order for me to use compassionate care benefits for my daughter, I had to use sickness benefits when I was pregnant with her?!" She said that's what it says in the documentation. Strange. I'm going to call back.

I had a pre-op appt with my pediatrician last week. I said he couldn't fill out the medical cert to apply for compassionate care leave because he doesn't really know the details of the surgery. He told me to ask Sick Kids doctors to fill it out.

To be eligible for this leave, the patient needs to be in serious risk of dying within 26 weeks of application. The surgery poses a risk, although I'm not sure is it's serious risk (I hope not.). Anyway, I'm not trying to pull one over on the government, it's just if this is available to us, then I would like to receive it. If not, that's okay too.

[Tawnia]

Yeah I think compassionate care is supposed to be kind of like hospice...I don't think it would apply here. I also HATE EI. They sent me a double check by accident. I noticed and so I didn't cash the 2nd cheque. I sent it back. They never received it and now they keep trying to bill me for it...even though they can SEE I didn't cash it!!! I am not paying them $310 for sending me a double cheque...especially when I never cashed it.

[Wyatt's Mom]

Christina: that sucks. I hate it when you get 3 people with 3 different answers. GRRRR.
I totally understand that you are not trying to "pull one over on the government". I think these things are available, why not use them. I am a stay at home mom so it wasn't an issue for me but you better bet I would have used them if I was working.

Good luck. I hope the 2nd call goes better.

[stina101803]

Just to follow up with this, I wrote a Clinical Coordinator at Sick Kids about these benefits and here's what he had to say:

Hi Christina,
Unfortunately this surgery does not fall under the governments expecations for the Compassionate Care Leave/Benefits. It is certainly our belief that a child does much better during the recovery phase when the parents are able to be here to provide support. If we can provide a letter to that effect to help you cause I would be happy to do so.
Thanks,
Alan George, RN, BA
Clinical Coordinator
Centre for Craniofacial Care and Research
The Hospital for Sick Children
(416) 813-8329

:no So just for future reference for any other Canadian moms! :shrug

[Janet]

I love Alan!!!! :adore

[Wyatt's Mom]

Christina: Thanks for the update. That really sucks it isn't covered. What are you guys going to do?

Best of luck! I'll be praying for you!

[Tawnia]

Is there anything else you can do? I guess at the end of maternity leave there isn't much available. I am struggling with the fact that since I do home daycare it isn't a recognized "business" and I won't get ANY maternity benefits with the next one...eep!

[Wyatt's Mom]

yeah Tawnia, I dealt with that. Looking back the best thing I could have done was go back to work for the 700 hours (I think that is it) so I got E.I. with Wyatt. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20

[Tawnia]

Yeah its 500 hrs actually....but I really don't want to put Azia in daycare....hmm...

[Wyatt's Mom]

Oh, okay. 500 hours.
I could have done it after Logan because my mother-in-law could have looked after Logan but I just didn't want to go back to work. :o)

[Tawnia]

Yeah exactly...500 hours is like 3-4 months of full time work. I guess I could do that if I needed to. That would mean going to work when I was like 4-5 months pregnant and working up to the end. Ugh. We will see where I am at next Spring/Summer...

[stina101803]

I don't think there's anything else I can do. That's okay, we'll make it work, cut some things out.
Yeah I've been trying to decide what to do after Lilah's surgery. Return to work, work from home (if possible) or try to find something PT. We're thinking about having a 3rd, but we decided to wait after Lilah's surgery to decide. So it would definitely be nice to earn those Mat benefits. When I came back from mat leave with my 1st, I was 3 months pregnant (oopsy!), so I only worked 6 months and then I was off again. I'd feel bad doing that a 2nd time, but that's what life is all about, right?
My supervisor is AWESOME with all this stuff, so I'm really blessed!

[Janet]

I was pretty lucky....I was still on mat leave when Fi had her surgery, it was Sept 26 and I went back to work Oct 30 so I had a month off with her which was great.
Alan said that 2 weeks is good to have off with them but I think more like a month

[mshanson]

Hi everyone, we're in Woodstock, New Brunswick, and I'm just wondering where the nearest CFS is going to be. Does anyone know if the IWK in Halifax has one?

[Janet]

Hey there....I met you over on CAPPS (Fiona's mom). I think your best bet is to ask your doctor or go a google search.

[snickers9246]

I met a friend on Facebook whose son had surgery at IWK, I'll see if I can get her to join here so you can chat with her! Maybe she can help!?