Debi Thomas interview in NY Post

[Artistic Skaters]

I believe you have to receive SSD for two years before becoming eligible for Medicare, although Medicaid based on income might be available in the meantime. However I'm pretty sure DT would know how to apply for SSD benefits. IIRC in that Washington Post article that was posted a year or so back (or another from around the same time), it noted they were primarily living off the SSI benefits they were receiving for the children. So they would be familiar with the process.

 

[livetoskate]

I believe you have to receive SSD for two years before becoming eligible for Medicare, although Medicaid based on income might be available in the meantime. However I'm pretty sure DT would know how to apply for SSD benefits. IIRC in that Washington Post article that was posted a year or so back (or another from around the same time), it noted they were primarily living off the SSI benefits they were receiving for the children. So they would be familiar with the process.

Yes, that is true. At this point, if she hasn't seen any doctors in 20 years, she wouldn't have a winning SSDI case anyway. She would need medical evidence to prove that she's unable to do any substantial gainful activity, and her extremely high level of education won't help either. Without a history of seeing a psychiatrist who would say she's so severely ill that she can't work even with meds, she wouldn't be able to prove her case; after all, plenty of bipolar people or people w/mood disorders can work.

Getting back to skating and Debi-- I am saddened to see that someone who used to be an inspiring role model is now living in squalor and suffering from mental illness. She was so talented and a real trailblazer. I rewatched her Olympic performance and her exhibition skate to "One More Try" many times.

 

[icie]

Is Debi's coach Alex McGowan still coaching? It seems like he disappeared after 1988.

 

[livetoskate]

Is Debi's coach Alex McGowan still coaching? It seems like he disappeared after 1988.

I think he stopped coaching long ago. It's like w/Linda Leaver-- after being a high profile coach, they seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Plus, would he be in his 70's by now. Wonder what he is up to. He was quoted in one of the recent Debi articles.

 

[berthesghost]

Recently Brennan mentioned him being at 94 nats, so I assume he was still coaching as late as 94.

Although this was an interesting find:
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-01-13/sports/sp-11_1_nancy-kerrigan

In a recent issue of Blades on Ice magazine, Debi Thomas again criticized her former coach, Alex McGowan, for the disappointing long program that resulted in her third-place finish in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

In the current issue of the magazine, McGowan provided a point-by-point rebuttal in a lengthy letter, closing with this provocative sentence: "I have never revealed to the media, and don't yet intend to, what I feel was the reason Debi gave up in Calgary."

McGowan said at Orlando that he would not elaborate because he is trying to reach an agreement with Thomas that would, at least for public consumption, settle their grievances against each other.

In lieu of that, he said that he might write a tell-all book about the wide world of figure skating not seen on television.


[\quote]

 

[Debbie S]

Is Debi's coach Alex McGowan still coaching? It seems like he disappeared after 1988.

He no longer coaches. I believe he retired from coaching about 8 years ago and now lives in Las Vegas, last I heard.

 

[Yazmeen]

He appeared in Calgary 88 and expressed frustration that Debi was unfocused on what she needed to do. He was also unhappy that she brought her boyfriend - whom she married (IMO, impulsively) between Olympics and Worlds.

The documentary is very worthwhile for getting an idea of how Debi's head operated (and still does).

 

[icie]

He appeared in Calgary 88 an expressed frustration that Debi was unfocused on what she needed to do. He was also unhappy that she brought her boyfriend - whom she married (IMO, impulsively) between Olympics and Worlds.

The documentary is very worthwhile for getting an idea of how Debi's head operated (and still does).

I remember her sudden marriage between the Olympics & Worlds. At Worlds on the podium, Liz congratulated her & Kat did too.

 

[Simone411]

Yes, that is true. At this point, if she hasn't seen any doctors in 20 years, she wouldn't have a winning SSDI case anyway. She would need medical evidence to prove that she's unable to do any substantial gainful activity, and her extremely high level of education won't help either. Without a history of seeing a psychiatrist who would say she's so severely ill that she can't work even with meds, she wouldn't be able to prove her case; after all, plenty of bipolar people or people w/mood disorders can work.

Getting back to skating and Debi-- I am saddened to see that someone who used to be an inspiring role model is now living in squalor and suffering from mental illness. She was so talented and a real trailblazer. I rewatched her Olympic performance and her exhibition skate to "One More Try" many times.

In my brother's ex-girlfriend's case, she was able to get Social Security Disability, and she was also able to work part time as a waitress. But I think you're right because her doctor had diagnosed her with Mental Depression and as being Bipolar.

I also didn't think about her not having seen any doctors in 20 years. She would definitely need to see a doctor again in order to be examined and diagnosed with being Bipolar again.

Regarding Medicare, I did have to wait two years, and one of those years was while I was still at NurseCare. I had Medicaid for a year while I was still at NurseCare. I finally got my disability in April of 2012 right after I left NurseCare, and SS considered the year I was at NurseCare as one of the years that I was disabled. My Medicaid ended right after I got Disability, and a year later in October of 2013, I started receiving Medicare.

 

[Prancer]

I think he stopped coaching long ago. It's like w/Linda Leaver-- after being a high profile coach, they seemed to drop off the face of the earth.

I don't know that Linda Leaver was really a high-profile coach; she was more a coach with a high-profile student. She worked as a coach to put her husband through college. When he was getting ready to graduate, he wanted her to quit. She told him that she had a new student in one of her group classes who was going to be a world champion one day and asked him to give her five years to see where she could take this one boy. She gradually winnowed her students down to that one and only one, although she did at one point take on Yvonne Gomez. But by the time Brian Boitano actually WAS a World Champion, she wasn't so much a coach as a manager and once Brian retired from competitive skating, so did she, although she continued to manage his career and, for a while, Alissa Czisny's. She considered being a coach a career that takes too much time away from family and would have quit when her husband asked if it hadn't been for Brian.

Or that's what my increasingly less reliable memory is telling me .

 

[Yazmeen]

I don't know that Linda Leaver was really a high-profile coach; she was more a coach with a high-profile student. She worked as a coach to put her husband through college. When he was getting ready to graduate, he wanted her to quit. She told him that she had a new student in one of her group classes who was going to be a world champion one day and asked him to give her five years to see where she could take this one boy. She gradually winnowed her students down to that one and only one, although she did at one point take on Yvonne Gomez. But by the time Brian Boitano actually WAS a World Champion, she wasn't so much a coach as a manager and once Brian retired from competitive skating, so did she, although she continued to manage his career and, for a while, Alissa Czisny's. She considered being a coach a career that takes too much time away from family and would have quit when her husband asked if it hadn't been for Brian.

Or that's what my increasingly less reliable memory is telling me .

I believe you're right; and IIRC, Brian was pushed more than once to move to a "better" coach (read: someone more prestigious in the minds of USFS).

 

[LarrySK8]

California Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) Suspends Eight Medical Providers for Fraud or Loss of License
By Lonce Lamonte and Newsline from the California Department of Industrial Relations - April 2, 2018

The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has suspended eight more medical providers from participating in California’s workers’ compensation system, bringing the total number of providers suspended to 242.

DWC Administrative Director George Parisotto issued suspension orders against the following providers:

The following providers were suspended because their licenses were surrendered, suspended or revoked:

• Carl Gene Gold, Springfield, Illinois physician, had his license revoked in 2017 after the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation suspended his license indefinitely for diverting controlled substances from a hospital for personal use.
• Debra Janine Thomas, Richlands, Virginia physician, had her license revoked in 2017 after the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation refused to renew her license based on a finding that she was unable to practice with reasonable skill and safety.

Both Debi and Gracie's Dad have officially lost their CA Med licenses.