Senior Reporter
shane.superville@guardian.co.tt
After suffering a stroke more than a year ago, Heather Almoralis-Dann says she is still waiting to receive the funds from National Insurance Board Sickness Benefit, which she says will go towards much-needed medical and living expenses.
In addition to what she described as the sluggish pace of processing her claim, Almoralis-Dann also raised concerns surrounding the application process for people seeking benefits from NIBTT. She claimed the system was overly bureaucratic.
Speaking with Guardian Media at her Tunapuna home last week, Almoralis-Dann confirmed that she worked as a clerk at the College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of TT (COSTAATT) when she suffered a stroke last February.
“The whole experience was very surreal to me.
“I didn’t remember anything. I had no memory of anything, not even my children at the time.”
Almoralis-Dann said she spent three weeks in the hospital with frequent visits to address pain on the right side of her body.
As of July, she said that her right arm remains largely numb, as she struggles to use it for basic tasks, including writing, noting that she has had to learn how to use her left hand to write.
She said that while doctors last year suggested that she undergo an MRI scan done at a public health institution, the nearest appointment date was in November of this year.
Noting the costs of having an MRI scan done privately and physical therapy, she said the sickness benefit would assist her in getting access to these programmes to aid in her rehabilitation.
Following her stroke, Almoralis-Dann said, she began to apply for her sickness benefit, noting that while she is currently in receipt of an invalidity benefit, she has not received the sickness benefit, despite qualifying for it and satisfying all the requirements.
The urgent need to access this provision, she said, led her to travel as far as the NIB’s Tobago office, where she was able to get the soonest appointment.
Despite this, she claimed she has not received favourable service and called for better to be done.
“The person who was supposed to be attending to that wasn’t in the office; it’s a whole lot of run around. I got that appointment in November of last year.
“We got everything approved by November of last year, but all of the information was submitted to them (NIB). Every document, all the information was submitted to them.”
She therefore hopes that more could be done by the NIB to serve the public, especially people dealing with serious health conditions.
“Treat people with some measure of understanding that there is so much people face that they may not know, but people have to go through the stress, the trauma... they need to be attended to in a faster, better way.”
Responding to Guardian Media questions via email last Wednesday, Nathalia De Freitas of NIB’s customer care department said while they appreciate the urgency of the matter, the board was unable to disclose any information relating to customers to third parties, citing privacy policies and confidentiality obligations.
De Freitas also promised that the NIB would contact Almoralis-Dann directly to provide an update on her matter.
