Hidden Injuries in Law Enforcement: The Emotional and Financial Impact After a Traumatic Brain Injury
In this episode of the Code4Couples podcast, host Cyndi Doyle continues the conversation with Joan Van De Greik about the severe financial impacts following her husband’s traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained in the line of duty. Joan shares the struggles they faced including mounting medical expenses, navigating insurance and workers’ comp, the importance of disability and life insurance with living benefits, and ultimately starting her business Fetch Your Wealth.
Joan’s story highlights the necessity of financial planning for law enforcement families facing similar challenges.
The Financial Impact of a Line-of-Duty Injury
In part 1, Joan talks about how her husband sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury while serving as a law enforcement officer. Their family faced significant financial burdens from unexpected costs that arose from medical treatments, copays, and the struggle to maintain a stable income stream.
The family shouldered heavy costs from MRIs, medications, and specialist consultations, most of which required high out-of-pocket expenses despite having health insurance. The difficult and tiring process of engaging with workers’ compensation further strained their financial resources.
“We were maxing out our deductible every year on his medical treatments.”
Her husband’s ability to work was severely diminished, and they depleted their savings and retirement funds. They incurred substantial debt and had to rely on credit cards to cover medical and legal costs.
Despite the overwhelming financial and emotional pressure, Joan recognized the severity and permanence of her husband’s condition. She proactively sought solutions to improve their financial crisis.
Leveraging Insurance Benefits
One significant step Joan took was to activate the living benefits of their life insurance policy that was secured before the injury. This policy provided a crucial lifeline and offered funds that supported ongoing medical expenses and debt recovery.
The Importance of Advocacy
Through Joan’s advocacy, she was involved in multiple lawsuits to secure her husband’s disability benefits. These lawsuits spanned workers’ compensation, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) claims, and Social Security Disability, each providing incremental financial relief for her family.
Joan’s story emphasizes the importance of perseverance and advocacy. Although each step in her journey involved considerable effort and time, her determination eventually secured crucial benefits. Her experiences show the critical need for comprehensive financial planning for law enforcement families.
Through her experience with her husbands in the line of duty injury, Joan saw the need to transition her accounting firm into a broader financial planning enterprise aiming to guide other first responder families through their financial predicaments. Her firm’s unique TLC (Tax Minimization, Life and Long-Term Planning, Civil Risk Awareness) method embodies a holistic approach to financial security, ensuring families can better prepare for and manage crises.
00:00 Introduction and Recap
01:42 Joan’s Financial Struggles Begin
04:22 Navigating Medical and Legal Hurdles
07:36 Mounting Debt and Continued Challenges
10:48 The Reality of Long-Term Impact
20:41 Temporary Solutions and New Roles
24:45 Discovering the Specialist Recommendation
25:31 Uncovering Post-Concussion Vision Syndrome
26:23 Navigating Disability and Employment Challenges
27:22 Financial Struggles and Legal Battles
30:06 The Role of Insurance and Benefits
33:56 The Importance of Life Insurance and Living Benefits
36:56 The Long Road to Social Security Disability
38:43 Public Safety Officer Benefits and Final Thoughts
43:56 Fetch Your Wealth: Services and Contact Information
Joan Van De Greik is a certified public accountant and the wife of a law enforcement officer who was injured in the line of duty that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. From that experience, she founded a company, Fetch Your Wealth to advocate for first responders and their families and communities that support them. She combines her knowledge as a CPA and her experience winning claims for her husband’s living benefits from his life insurance and disability to facilitate and educate first responders on how to protect their assets.
