I have had several different case managers in the Calgary area. I feel like I am a high-needs case. I feel like my case managers are probably overworked or overloaded with cases. They have a lot of members who they're dealing with who may not have as complex a file as mine. I think I tend to get lost sometimes in that file, where the omission of a signature can lead to a cessation of my benefits within days. Even though I'm doing everything by the letter that I require for my vocational rehab services, I'm constantly quoted legislation or “You have to do this”, “There are time frames”, “You have to carry on doing this”, and “Well, this was missed.” The fact is that the onus is so heavily put on the veteran. I am the one who has to essentially guide my way through the system. I'm not feeling a lot of help from my case manager. I'm almost feeling that my case manager is my adversary and that I constantly have to have parts that are part of the programming bookmarked on my phone. That way if I have an argument with my case manager, I can go to it and look at it so I know exactly what I'm entitled to.
The fact is that I go and I say, “Hey, am I entitled to this? Can I get this? Can I get that?” It's never me showing up and having a case manager say, “Hello, Mark. Here's the list of services you're eligible for.” That has never been the case for me. Often I have to find out what the services are, and then I have to scrap as hard as I can to get those. It's a grind. It feels to me like a lot of veterans get dissuaded. They get disheartened by dealing with the system, and they eventually give up and then disappear off of everybody's radar. That's why I feel like there are probably a lot of individuals falling through the cracks.