Mary Kosta of the Canadian Health Champions can be found at:
www.canadianhealthchampions.com
marycadas@rogers.com
647 4036113
John Farquhar
Summit Risk Solutions: summitrisksolutions.ca
1 226 802-2762
John@summitrisksolutions.ca
Chris Harris
Safety Dawg Inc: safetydawg.com
Chris@SafetyDawg.com
1 905 973 7056
Keeping it Safety Dawg Simple!
#trucksafety #truckinsurance #truckpodcast
Mary Kosta of the Canadian Health Champions can be found at:
www.canadianhealthchampions.com
marycadas@rogers.com
647 4036113
John Farquhar
Summit Risk Solutions: summitrisksolutions.ca
1 226 802-2762
John@summitrisksolutions.ca
Chris Harris
Safety Dawg Inc: safetydawg.com
Chris@SafetyDawg.com
1 905 973 7056
Keeping it Safety Dawg Simple!
#trucksafety #truckinsurance #truckpodcast
Good day, good evening, Good week. Welcome to the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast, where we talk to some very interesting people on a weekly basis. And this week I'm really excited to have Mary Kosta with us. Mary is an advocate. Yes, an advocate. What the heck does she advocate for? Well, it could be almost anything, but in our case, she can help trucking companies and truck drivers access government money. All right, so that's this week's episode on the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast. Right? Mary, welcome to the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast. Can you give us a short, brief intro as to who Mary Kosta is and what it is that you do for us?
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Well, thank you for having me, John. And Chris. It's nice to be here to talk about something that yeah, normally might not think about when you get into trucking, but I am CEO of Canadian Health Champions, and this is a new not-for-profit health advocacy. And, uh, the main thrust of what we do is try to remind folks to take care of themselves and each different industry has its own pitfalls. So in trucking there's some pretty interesting bits you might not have thought of. And I'm here to kind of remind you that uh, we can help. We're not for profit. We're the first not for profit. So, uh Oh wow. We're looking. Yeah. And uh, cause it gets expensive. Anytime you hear advocate, that's lawyer and that's very scary. Yeah. Well
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:one of the things that I am excited about, um, in having you on the show is because this is something that until you and I talked a week or two ago, whenever it was, I had no idea that some of the things that you're gonna talk about today were available to us in the transportation industry. So that's, this is kind of mind blowing stuff. So the first, I'm looking forward to hearing about this. This is great. Well, and the first thing, um, you wanted to talk about or suggested that we talk about was trucking and health. So how does that all get into your wheel?
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:I see people from all walks of life in all sorts of, uh, positions. But what struck me is how alone truckers are. So you're all day, every day. Uh, the person you talk to is likely your radio, um, covid complicated things quite a bit because now you can't even go into the stops that you're used to going to and seeing that person you buy a coffee from. And those little touchpoints that are human are now. Uh, you can't even go in where you pick up. So really, like you went from being very isolated to almost a hundred percent isolated. Yep. So that's a scary thing. You're away from your family, you're on your own. Some very uncertain times. Um, people are, you know, there's road rage. You've got your own rage. You're on highways. People aren't too happy to see a trucker sometimes. Um, they're cutting you off and you're all by yourself. So what happens? So you see suicide rates, sky. You see folks that are, you know, trying to take care of their health at maybe a few healthier choices on the roots. Uh, but they're going to whatever is the flavor of the day that happens to be open. So you're having, you know, meals that aren't the most nutritional that you could have. And this has happened. I mean, Covid was a number of years, right? And it's not completely done, although it's, you know, we're moving far, far in the right direction. Uh, you're not sleeping at regular intervals. Sometimes you're, you're staying overnight in your truck. Uh, are you cross border? Have you gotten stuck? With Covid and cross-border, that was a nightmare. So there's a lot to think about then. You wouldn't think trucking is this, this issue. But yeah, there's a heck of a lot to, to actually absorb in what's happening in your sector.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Well, and, and one of the big things that we find in the transportation industry is, uh, unsettling schedules. So you're not gonna have the same schedule. It's not nine to five by any means. And as you'd mentioned, uh, we're not going to, we're probably gonna sleep in our truck several nights a week, if not for several weeks on end. I know I spent 20 years behind the wheel and, uh, I could be gone two, three weeks at a. Um, Right. So, yeah. You know, if you weren't talking to the radio, you were talking to yourself, so that's it. Uh, so there's a lot of things going on. You, you actually crave those opportunities to stop and get fuel, interact with somebody, you know, and, uh, grab a meal and talk to the waitress and stuff like that. So yeah, there, there's definitely that mental health aspect that back in my day, um, nobody talked about, Nobody talked about that at all.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Nobody talked about it, did they? And, and now they're starting to quantify, So you're seeing, you know, the, and you can confirm this, I guess, John, the average person is that sandwich age. I call it the sandwich age cuz you've got children underneath you and you've got parents above you. And how do you manage that, particularly when you can't be there for them and you get that call saying, you know, your son or your daughters in the hospital broke their arm and your, your partner's running to take care of it. And then you feel disconnected. And it's not your partner's fault, it's not anybody's fault, it's not your job's fault, but it is the situation. Yep. And so PTSD.
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:I was gonna say, and you feel terribly guilty while something like that's going on. Yep.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Yeah. Well, I, I remember when my kids were growing up, you know, I missed those days. Uh, you know, when, uh, my son was in hockey, my daughter was in Ringette, you know, and the things they were doing, and I'm not gonna make it home this weekend. You know, I've gotta turn around, head back to Texas or something like that, cuz it was part of the job and the, the kids accepted it because hey, that was part of life. Uh, the wife accepted it cuz it was part of life. I accepted it cuz it was part of life. Didn't mean it made it any better. That was the biggest problem. But you know, back then in those days, I remember growing up with my uncles and my grandfather and it was like, Suck it up, buttercup. Get going
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:now, Mary. Yeah. How can you and your organization help a driver like that?
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:I think there's new considerations now because we're talking about it a bit more now, because where there's some more sensitivity. and because you know, human nature is to get around things. So I see people come in saying, you know, I had this job, it was great. I was being paid cash, and then I got stranded, or I got in an accident and there was no support for me. So who do you have that you can reach out to to say, Okay, so you wanna do this? This is something you're considering. I don't need to know the situation. I don't need to know who's offered you what. But I can say, Okay, well if somebody's offered you cash and you wanna work there, what happens if you're stranded? What happens if something happens to. And that one thing you're trying to protect by getting that cash job because maybe you don't have the experience, is do something for your family if something happens to you, right? They're really in trouble. So how do you manage all of that? So when you've got, you wanna get a job, but you need experience and to get experience, you have to have a job. So that's the catch 22 you find yourself in now because you've had like that humbled issue. You've had these high profile cases, which leave you in this position not to be able to actually secure that job. Or say you're a newcomer and you can't prove your credentials because you've come from the Ukraine or you've come from wherever. Um, as displaced people, you don't always come here with certificates in hand and reference letters. You kind of just escaped a nasty situation. So how do you mitigate that? So there's um, some wonderful mentorship programs and a lot of people don't know that. There are some trucking companies that offer mentorship programs. So you're starting, you're getting experience. That driver who's teaching you hasn't been alone because they've had you and you've also cut your teeth with somebody, right? Because you're behind the field, but you don't know what you don't.. But when you're sitting beside somebody, you know, no matter what just chatting, you're gonna get a wealth of information in history. Mm-hmm.. So being able to put people to those programs and being that link, uh, is what we like to do. And then if you have an issue, if your family has an issue, you feel like you wanna be able to do something for them to offer some advice. I find a lot of folks in trucking that I speak to say, you know, I feel on the periphery. Everybody else is taking care of things. I find out when I find out. Doesn't mean that I know. So it's, it's frustrating and you feel disconnected, and it's not because anyone did it to you, it's because you're not able to access that. So if you have an advocate working with the association, so now you've got X thousand of people that can reach out because it's part of your extended benefits, that's great. But then you think, Oh, you know, can I really afford to pay for this? And uh, we were chatting a little bit earlier that there are grants for this, and we're actually looking at leveraging some of those now because the government's recogniz. that certainly, yeah. That there's skills development, um, which is something that you wanna be with a reputable company. Some people will pay you cash, but you're not gonna have that insurance if you're cross border.
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:Right, Right. When you say grants for this, be specific, What, what is the this,
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:So say you are part of an association, the trucking associa. Okay. And the trucking association partners with, um, the government. Now, what the government has done, there's always grants. There's always grants for jobs, youth, disability, always. So say you go to them and say, Okay, what do you have this year? So right now it's open, you can apply. They like consortium, so they wanna partner with somebody. So we are looking to partner. So Canadian health champions not for profit. We wanna partner with you, trucking association. And we wanna be able to say, say there's 8,000 members and we can get $150,000 to run a program so everybody can access that program till the funding runs out. And then the nice thing is when we exhaust that funding, we can give it out again. So we can go. Caveat. The government doesn't like to advertise that these funds are open So you dunno.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Yes. Well that's why you never hear about them. Yeah,
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:that's right. So that's been our biggest challenge because we've got these funds and then we're stuck. So then they say, Well, but we hire somebody through the hiring grant that's attached to this. Cuz there's so many different pieces. Right? If you're part of an association, you're not advertising. If you do a., right? So now they've made it more creative saying, You come to me with a partnership, so we're reaching out. So you're likely will be hearing more and more of this in many different sectors, but I think it lends itself perfectly to trucking because nobody's ever done it, right? So how do you mitigate these issues? When you give somebody an antidepressant? It doesn't change. The fact that you're alone doesn't change the fact that you're at the mercy of crossing a border or that something might be closed, that you're normally there. It doesn't change the fact that you're not.. But what happens when somebody can communicate with you and let you know what's happening and you can tee something up even though you're not at home, or you can just talk to somebody because you need to talk to somebody. Mm-hmm.. So what are the supports? So you don't get this typically in an insurance package in a bundle, but if you can have your association offer it, Well now it's just made your union dues. Sorry. Your association dues make so much.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Right. So, so in order to apply for this program, uh, to go through your association, is it the motor carrier, the, the transport company that needs to do this? Or is it the individual driver that would have to push for it or something? It
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:depends which one you're talking about. Uh, in some cases, if somebody's hiring you on and says, I'd like to train these people to be drivers and be part of a mentorship. Then they can be on the books and the mentorship program can be, you know, the way certain grants work, it's $10,000 per employee. And you can do that every six months. Typically it's every year, not every six months. Right. And so say you wanna hire on four or five people and train them mm-hmm. so that you've, you've got your own staffing coming in, or you can work with an agency like, um, like a Nova Staffing for instance, that would bring them on, help you get this funding and help you start to create your own. So it's a great partnership because the government likes partnerships. They like you to work with somebody else to create jobs. Sure. So every time you hear, Oh, the government created 50,000 jobs, it's because they put out these grants and they heard back, and that's how they quantify the money they've given.
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:So interesting. If I owned a trucking company, I could reach out to somebody like you and Absolutely help me get some money to hire some new truck drivers and train them.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Okay. Yeah. And we can work out a program together because we specialize, well, at least in Nova staff is one that I've worked with. They specialize in drivers, um, the mentorship programs, everything. So it's better sometimes if it sounds too good to be true, it's too good to be true. So my actually works. I get the stories and people walk in and say, you know, Do you work on cash or sin? And he goes, You know, I've been here two days. I'm pretty sure we work on sin. So, uh, and they go, Yeah, on the screen, ABC doesn. Sure. So, you know, things are changing, societies are doing cashless. Um, you know, 2025, you've got Scandinavian countries going cashless. Kenya is already cashless Kenya of all places. Mm-hmm.. So what happens when cash is gone? You know, you think it's there forever, but it's going to sneak up on you in the next few years. Kind of like, uh, electric and no more gas is gonna sneak up on you. Maybe not in the trucking industry, but quite as fast in the trucking industry. But, uh, you know, Tesla, Tesla has your way about it. Yeah. It'll, it'll change.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Yeah. Yeah. So I wanted to touch on, because you'd mentioned a mentoring program. So, yeah. Um, I'm just curious around the, the training of this mentoring program. Is there, uh, particular stipulations through the grant of what this mentoring program must look like? Or is it up to the motor carrier to develop that program? Or do you guys get involved with that?
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:We can develop a program. You can find a partner that wants to develop a program. Okay. What you do is you find a trainer, so you can have a, that trainer be the agency that would find you staff that can bet the people that are going. Uh, it doesn't have to be like you think, Oh my gosh, I have to have a fleet of people. Am I running a school? No, absolutely not. You're just saying, Okay, we're gonna leverage training these folks, and the idea is to create jobs or keep people working. So say you have somebody who wants to work part-time and you need somebody on full-time, but hey, as part-time I can run this mentorship program and start bringing people in. It's 24 months. It doesn't take that long. You know? What are the challenges? You've got drivers that have experience but have been under fleet. I. So you don't know that that person specifically has the insurance, so now, even though they've done two years uninsurable? Correct. So you can do something to get that equivalency. So it's just, you know, you have to be creative. That's the environment we're in, like, how creative are you and can you take advantage
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:of the rent? Yeah. Well, I know, I know the colleges and trades developed an apprenticeship program for Ontario, and a lot of carriers were like, Oh, this is great stuff, but ah, yeah, it's gonna cost too much money and I can't afford to do that. I, I see right away that if, if, if they would partner with somebody like yourself, they could get some funding to help offset those costs of that training. Absolutely.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:There is, uh, a training program, uh, now that if you have more than 50 or more than a hundred, they just changed. It used to be 50 staff. If you have more than a hundred staff, um, you pay two thirds, or sorry, half, half of the costs of the training program. So say the training program's up to 10,000 a person, uh, it could be less whatever, but it can't be anymore. So up to 10,000 of course, and you get half back. Sure. And then if you had, but say you needed to buy like some computers or something or software, you could actually go into that other. To fulfill the needs that you have, which is a great thing. Sure. If you have less than a hundred paid full-time staff, then it's five six, so you're really only on the hook for 17% of what it would actually cost. Wow. Wow. So if you think about it, it's, it's pretty good. And then you can go into that 17% again saying, Hey, I need different tracking software or something to monitor these people. And that's something you're gonna use. So it's worth it because now you've got somebody you've trained to your standards, Everybody's different. Mm-hmm., you've trained somebody that's gonna know your roots. So yeah, you can go into apprenticeship programs, they're just as good. But some of these granting programs are great and they're available and nobody's been using this because Covid nobody knows about. Right.
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:And I don't know if you realize that every trucking company that John and I visit, they all say I'm short drivers.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Everybody, short drivers, anyone I talk to Yep. Is saying We need drivers. We need drivers. And, and you see some of these come in cross-border and I've heard people say, You know, I, I have 300 open openings for this. I've got one person. Yeah, yeah. No. And then that whole stupid piece there that really impacted the cross-border, right? Yep. Yep.
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:Yeah, no, we, we need drivers and, uh, I'm sure companies, if they can get some financial help, would love the opportunity to hire some less experienced drivers and bring them up. Yeah, yeah. You know, now, so Mary, that's available, you can help companies, uh, access some grants and that's why they should reach out to you. Uh, the second thing, when we are having our convers. Uh, we were talking a little bit about mental health of truck drivers, and one of the things that you said you could help in is advoca advocacy.. I can't say that word,. John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: for drivers because as you mentioned, a lot of drivers, they're the sandwich generation. They've got, uh, seniors living with them and children living with them, and somebody with special needs, and that could be a senior, it could be a., I can only imagine how heavily it weighs on the driver while they're out there being by themselves and thinking about the different, uh, health needs that that individual has. How can you help somebody address those situations as well?
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Being able to weigh in, being able to be in contact, um, you know, hands free, people talk on the phone. People have different systems that they can communicate with. Being able to be in touch to call and say, Can you let me know what's happened here? Or, you know, there's been a meeting today with a doctor. Um, if you're the advocate going in, you have permission to be in there and you can share information. You can help book appointments, take some of that pressure off your partner who's having to deal with it, right? Mm-hmm., or say you need to get some home care for a child, for your partner, for your parents. How do you do that? How do you know that and what do you know? What can you. So you, I'm sure you've heard in the news recently where they'll say, Well, now you can start hiring your own caregiver. You can pay for them. The government will reimburse you. Well, how many of us wanna pay a thousand, 2000, or can pay a thousand to 2000 a week? Yeah. But if you can find someone who can backfill that, so an agency that does have a backend that can pay for that and get the money back in from the government and just guarantee that that person's been working well, then that's a load off for. So that's new. It's, it's not that new. It was always available. People again, didn't know about it. Now it's an election, you hear about it. So, uh, that always factors in for sure. So that's something that we can help with. Calling, being able to talk to somebody. But then don't forget, it's not just you're in that sandwich generation. What happens to. mental health. Mm-hmm. suicide, anxiety, depression, ptsd, It's all way up. So for the trucking companies, what's happening to your insurance? Mm-hmm.. Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: Well, and the driver out there when they're driving, thinking about all these issues that they can have at home. Yeah. They're distracted. Are they distracted? Are they, as you said, becoming depressed? Um, are they more susceptible to having a road rage? Because they're already keyed up and, and just, I'm not sure what the mental health words would be, but they're thinking not necessarily the right way all the time, but they need help.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Yeah. Now this, this now becomes a, Oh, sorry, this, this now becomes a liability to the motor. you know, you've just created an exposure that you can't control from the office while that driver's out on the road.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Yep. No, but if they have a direct line to like, you know, you get that in extended health where you have somebody to talk about your, you know, mental, your own mental Yep. Speech. Yep. Uh, sometimes you have access to best doctors where you can ask for, you know, you have so many minutes to talk to somebody, but if you have a grant where you've worked with us, and anybody can call in at any time, or we can be a touch point saying, Did you think about this? There's something available to you, you know, to your family, to, you know, this is something we can help you with and prod that forward and share that information. Mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm.. That's different. That's not advertising, That's just saying, Hey, you're part of the association. This is part of the grant. And we wanna chat with you a little about what we can do. So you don't know what you don't know.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Yeah. Yeah. And there's some carriers out there. Some carriers will, will provide, uh, a health benefits program, uh, with an e p EAP provider in it, uh, and whatnot. But I, I know a lot of the companies I go to see a lot of the drivers turn it down because they have to pay for a good chunk of this program. Uh, and they might go, My wife's got benefits and it's just enough to get us by and I don't have to pay anymore, and, and stuff like that. So, Uh, particularly the employee assistance, uh, program would be very helpful. So what you're talking about is basically doing that in itself to have those providers available via phone call.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Right. And then to be able to do it by saying, Hey, association abc, you've got this much, which works out to being, you know, 1500 to 2000 per person that you Yeah. Represen. And then they can just pick up the phone and call. So it takes the pressure off the employer, it takes the pressure off. Sure. Paying credentially and insurance and it lets you get that recovery going cuz that's where we are, we're recovering now. Trying not to slip further. Right. And I think that's why there's been so much money a lotted
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:and. And so if this podcast is really talking about two different segments here, but one, the employer can reach out to Mary to help set up mentoring programs and see what funds and grants are available, and then the driver can also reach out to Mary's organization for different advocacy, especially when it comes to health of right people that they're worried about at home.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Mm-hmm particularly if you're part of an association and you say, Hey, we'd like to be able to have access to this service, then you absolutely can say, you know, I heard this, have you heard about this? So cuz we're gonna be reaching out to say there's an opportunity here. And really it closes in January, so open September 29th, closes January 22nd. So, you know, and over Christmas, you know what happens And that's a whole lot of nothing. Yeah. So we're on it right now and you know, I think deadline to ask questions with the 26th, I'm like,
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Yeah. Yeah. We, we, we kind of touched on a little bit of, uh, the type of drivers that we're seeing. Obviously some cross-border drivers, domestic drivers, uh, Canada only drivers. How do these programs work because they're Canadian based and Canadian funded and whatnot. How, how does it work for a driver that says, Maybe go to the US and I have problems among the us? Can, can I still access.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Absolutely, because you're Canadian. If you're from Ontario, for instance, there are funds allotted to folks that are Ontario workers. They're Ontario residents, but they just so happen to cross the border. So if you have that insurance in place, it's always open to you and access to you. So say you've crossed the border and you're stuck, you have somewhere to call. So you know, how do you get me some help? You've got the insurance, so we either help facilitate you setting it up with your company or we do it. So at least you can give us a ring and we can say, Hey, okay, so let's get onto the adjuster. Have you been taken care of? Right? Because everybody just hands you off, right? Let's hand this person off to someone else, someone else to someone else. And then you find out they fell through the cracks somewhere. But if you have somebody watching the second you're at a hospital, the second you're anywhere in an advocate calls, that means you are now liable legally. And if you're liable legally, you're going to pay attention.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Right? Right.
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:There you go, Mary. Cool. Cool. This has been interest. Last word, what did we, did we miss something that you wanted to get out to the public?
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Um, no. I think just that ask, ask for what you want and if you don't and can't ask your employer, ask your association. Cuz that's why they're there. Right. And you can always ask us. I mean, there is no cost asking a question. Absolutely. Happy to, You know, you want us to get in there and say, you know, we heard from somebody in your organiz. Or a number of somebody, uh, you might be interested in this. It might might be a great satisfaction piece for your staff. Mm-hmm.. So don't feel afraid to ask. The confidentiality is a big deal these days. We all hear about it. Don't be
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:afraid to ask. And cool. The contact information for Mary and the Canadian Health Champions is in this show notes down below. So yeah. Perfect. Please reach out to Mary and see what she can do for.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:I'm like in this, I, I, I know when I'm talking to clients, I'm gonna start talking to them about, uh, please, please do.
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:Yeah. And we're get, we're getting the word out that the Canadian Health Champions exists.
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:Yes. Thank you. Exactly. Well, yeah, this is great because I'll, I'll be honest with you, I'd never heard of it prior to, you know, and then Chris was talking about, Hey, we're gonna have Mary on here. Well, what's Mary? Do you know? Tell me what Mary , Now we know a lot more about Mary.
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:You know, the second year, a non-for-profit, my kids go, mom goes to parties, I go, No, that's not exactly, I they're happy when I've bring food home though. Five 20. Yes,
John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions:exactly. Exactly. No, this is, this has been very informative and very interesting. Thank you very much,
Mary Kosta, Canadian Health Champions:Mary. Thank you. Well thanks for having me and anytime, anytime. Let me know
Chris Harris, Safety Dawg:what you need and that was a great interview with Mary. Of Canadian Health Champions. So please reach out to Mary, see what she can do for you, whether you are a company in wanting to access some money from the government for mentoring programs or whether you're a truck driver and need to, um, get some help finding out what services might be available, uh, for those people at home. Do reach out to Mary at Canadian Health Champions. Thanks for coming on, Mary, and for all of you John Far choir of Summit Risk Solutions and myself, Chris Harris, up Safety Dog. Thank you for listening and we would like to see you all next week. Please, uh, leave us a comment, give us a, a thumbs up. We appreciate it so much. Have a great week.