booklet providing information on income assistance

Other Financial Information:
Trillium Drug Plan:
This assistance program may be available even if family income is moderate to
high. This occurs because the program focuses on both income level and
medication costs. Therefore, someone who has a good family income, plus high
medication costs, may still be eligible for help under this program. Also, please
note that this assistance is available to all family members who live in the same
household, once deemed eligible, for all prescription medications rather than
being strictly for cancer related medications. Therefore, if a patient’s family
member also has a serious illness requiring prescription medication, both might
be covered.
Community Legal Clinic:
Most communities have these clinics, and they can be found through the phone
book or Community Information Centres (see below). This service is not the
same as Legal Aid (although they are related). These clinics assist people who
are having difficulty accessing government services and need help with the
appeal process (eg. ODSP, CPP appeals, assistance with landlords etc). They
may also provide consultation and/or ongoing assistance with some cases
related to unjust dismissal due to illness. If they can’t assist with a specific case,
they are a good resource for finding a service that could assist instead of them.
This is a free service, unless family income is extremely high.
Career Counselling:
This service is also sometimes called Vocational Counselling. Some of these
services are free, some have a cost (which may be sliding scale based on
income). Some of these services are only for person’s elgible for Employment
Insurance, but this is not always so. When calling such an agency, it is important
to ask about all these eligibility criteria. Also, be specific about your
circumstances when calling these agencies as the type of service offered by
each can be quite different despite their using the same name. For example,
some have very basic services such as resume writing for person’s new to
Canada who are unfamiliar with our system. Others are more suited to the
professional who needs to explore new career options due to illness or other life
circumstance. Unless basic services are desired, it is useful to ask for a Full
Vocational Assessment that examines skills, interests and abilities. To find an
agency in your community, contact your local Community Information Centre
(see below).
Social Work Services:
Most hospitals have social workers, who can assist with understanding the
system and making applications. If there are financial issues, ask one of the
attending physicians or nurses how to access social work services.
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