May 14, 2020

Good day Union Family

As our Province starts to remove the restrictions that are in place for the COVID 19 pandemic, some business, are starting to reopen to the public. Fortunately for us the WOW Center at Synergy Respiratory & Cardiac Care is starting to see members to complete their Pulmonary Function Tests (PFT). This is going to be a slow restart with limited spots available with the majority of spots set aside for our members on Fridays.

With the up to date PFT members receive the yearly Health Spending Account from the Health and Welfare plan. This year the Health Spending Account is four hundred dollars and can be used for additional benefits or to cover the copayment portion of a service. Members will still be provided the Health Spending Account if they complete the PFT through their own doctor as long as documentation is provided to the Health and Welfare plan that the test has been completed.

The true value of having the PFT completed through the WOW Center is the accessibility of the testing information in the future. Member of our Union have completed thousands of PFT’s and Spirometry tests over the years, some of these tests have allowed for early intervention and have shown progression of different lung diseases. Unfortunately, these tests were almost impossible to obtain when it came time to fight with WCB for proper compensation due to industry exposures. The reason for this is medical records are only held active for about 15 years in Alberta and then they are usually sent to document storage. Once in document storage it is almost impossible to find the records and after a period of time the documents can be destroyed. With the partnership with Local 110 and Synergy Respiratory & Cardiac Care our members records are being retained with the doctor’s office indefinitely so they can be accessed when needed. Also, Synergy Respiratory & Cardiac Care provides the doctors that Local 110 utilized for expert testimony when we are fighting for member benefits with WCB. So, having an ongoing relationship with these doctors can be beneficial if you have issues with WCB coverage in the future.

In solidarity

Kevin Lecht                                                                        

Business Manager