DABC has received the following information from the University of Toronto:

Women with physical disabilities have 6.6 times higher chance of developing heart disease and 5.9 times higher chance of having cardiac pain compared to women without disabilities. We are partnering with the Network of Women with Disabilities (NOW), the Canadian Council of Disabilities (CCD) and the DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) of Canada to learn how to improve decision-making, access and quality of care for women who have disabilities and cardiac pain through patient journey mapping.

We would like to recruit 10-16 English-speaking women over 40 years of age living with a mobility disability (e.g., paraplegia, quadriplegia, osteoarthritis, etc.) and cardiac pain/cardiac symptoms (e.g., shortness of breath). Women will be eligible if they respond ‘yes, sometimes’ or ‘yes, often’ to any of the following three questions: ‘Does a long-term physical condition or health problem, reduce the amount or the kind of activity you can do’ (Q1), ‘at home?’ (Q2) ‘at work?, and (Q3) ‘in other activities (e.g., transportation, leisure)?’ We will ask potential participants to have a 10-20-minute telephone call with us where we will explain our study and project and then we will ask screening questions. The next step will involve an individual interview to discuss your experiences, either face-to-face or by telephone or using the internet. Patterns and connections discovered in the interviews will inform the creation of storyboards/patient journey maps. If you choose, you can participate in a discussion group with other women and health care providers. You will have a chance to review and comment on the storyboards/patient journey maps in the discussion group.

We will provide a lay summary about the study and its findings to all those who participated and indicated that they wished to receive a copy. Travel costs will be reimbursed if you live near Toronto and participants will receive a $25 honorarium for participating in an individual interview or a discussion group. If women participate in both they will receive $50.

If interested please contact Monica Parry at monica.parry@utoronto.ca or 416-946-3561

Disability Alliance BC’s office will be closed for the holidays from Thursday, December 19th – Wednesday, January 1st. It will reopen on Thursday, January 2nd.

From all of us at DABC, we wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season and all the best in the new year!

The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction (MSDPR) has sent out a letter to their clients that as of January 1, 2020 the Ministry will no longer require clients between the ages of 60 and 64 to apply for federal early Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement benefits in order to be eligible for income or disability assistance or to avoid a reduction in the amount of their assistance.

If you will be under 65 years of age as of January 1, 2020, you may be able to cancel your early CPP retirement benefits if it has been within six months since the first payment. You also may be able to withdraw your CPP early retirement application if you have not yet received a payment.

Please be aware that if you cancel your early CPP retirement benefits you will have to repay the federal government for any amounts you have received and the MSDPR will not give you the money back.