What Do You Do After You’ve Been in a Car Accident in Alberta?
HERE’S WHAT AIRDRIE AND NORTH CALAGRY RESIDENTS NEEDS TO KNOW:
It can be confusing to understand Alberta’s system of caring for people who have been in car accidents. At Blessingways Family Wellness, we can help you through the entire process:
• We provide chiropractic and massage therapy services at Blessingways
• All of our practitioners treat people who have been in car accidents.
• We can help you fill out your paperwork and send it to your claims adjuster.
• We take care of the billing, you don’t pay out of pocket for our services.
• We can help you to find complementary health care providers for the services that we don’t offer.
IF YOU HAVE BEEN IN A MOTOR VECHILE ACCIDENT:
CALL YOUR CAR INSURANCE ADJUSTER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Whether the police attended your accident or not, your claims adjuster is someone that you call as soon as possible after your accident. He or she will help you with what you need to do to start your claims and will send you all the forms that you need to fill out. There are A LOT OF THEM!!
Don’t worry if the forms are confusing, we can help you sort through them all. If you have them, bring them with you on your first visit.
YOU WILL NEED TO FILL OUT AN AB-1 FORM.
If you haven’t received your forms from your claims adjuster, we have extras at the clinic that you can fill out. Once you have filled out your AB-1 from, we can fax it in to your claims adjuster for you.
YOU MUST HAVE AN ASSESSMENT FROM YOUR CHIROPRACTOR, YOUR PHYSIOTHERAPISTS, OR YOUR MEDICAL DOCTOR WITHIN THE FIRST 30 DAYS AFTER YOUR CAR ACCIDENT.
At Blessingways Family Wellness, you will be assessed and treated by either Dr. Melanie Beingessner, or Dr. Laurence Dion, both chiropractors.
We will take a thorough history of your accident and the symptoms your are experiencing and then perform a thorough physical exam where we assess your range of motion, motor strength, reflexes, muscle tension and joint restrictions. We will most likely send you for x-rays if you don’t already have them. We then fill out an AB-2 form about our findings and send it in to your claims adjuster, along with your AB-1 form.
THEN YOU WILL STARTCARE… AND YOU HAVE MANY OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
If you have been diagnosed as a WAD 1 (Whiplash Associated Disorder 1)
Your injuries are minimal. This would most likely be a bump in a parking lot, or a bump between two cars going very slowly. Your symptoms are as follows:
• symptoms of spinal pain, stiffness or tenderness
• no physical signs of injury
• no tenderness and normal range of motion
• normal reflexes and muscle strength in the limbs
People who are diagnosed as WAD 1 have access to 10 treatment of chiropractic, massage therapy, physiotherapy and/or acupuncture. You can choose to see one of these practitioners, or any combination of all four, it is your choice.
If you have been diagnosed as a WAD 2 (Whiplash Associated Disorder 2)
Your injuries are significant. The car accident was eventful and there is damage to your car. Your symptoms are as follows:
• neck pain, midback pain and/or low back pain
• stiffness or tenderness
• decreased range of motion of your neck, midback or low back
• tenderness of the muscles along the spine, in your neck or low back
• possible jaw pain (TMJ – temporomandibular joint pain)
• restricted range of motion in your neck, midback and/or low back
• normal reflexes and muscle strength in the limbs
Step 1 - People diagnosed with WAD 2 injuries have access to 21 treatment of chiropractic, massage therapy, physiotherapy and/or acupuncture. You can choose to see one of these practitioners, or any combination of all four, it is your choice. You have three months (90 days) to use these 21 visits.
Step 2 - Once your 21 visits are done, if you still need care, you will have to use any extra health insurance that you have for the services that you have chosen.
Step 3 - Once your extra health insurance is used, and if you need more care, you will qualify for what is called the Section B portion of your car insurance. The Section B portion of your car insurance provides extra funds for care that includes:
$ 750 of chiropractic care
$ 750 of physiotherapy
$ 250 of massage therapy
$ 250 of acupuncture
All of these services can be billed to your claims adjuster if they allow direct billing to your health care provider.
If you have been diagnosed with WAD 3 (Whiplash Associated Disorder 3)
Your injuries are significant and many… your car was severely damaged and you are going to need a lot of help to get back to pre-accident status.
Your symptoms are the same as for WAD 2 injuries (listed above) and
• neurological signs of injury
• abnormal reflexes and/or muscle weakness
IN CONCLUSION
If you have been in a motor vehicle accident in Alberta – call you claims adjuster and seek care as soon as possible. There are many excellent chiropractors, massage therapists, physiotherapists and acupuncturists available in your area to help you get back to pre-accident status.
If you live in Airdrie, Rockyview county, Carstairs, Beiseker, Irricana, or North Calgary, we are available here at Blessingways Family Wellness to help you feel better and move better as you recover from your motor vehicle accident.
For more information, please give us a call at 403-945-2422.
Dr. Melanie Beingessner is a pregnancy and pediatric-focused chiropractor, a breastfeeding counselor, a certified infant massage instructor and a mom of three awesome kids.