{"id":2450,"date":"2018-12-12T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/safecarebc.ca\/?p=2450"},"modified":"2023-10-12T08:47:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T15:47:21","slug":"opportunity-to-recover-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/?p=2450","title":{"rendered":"Opportunity to recover at work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Baptist Housing has 1,200 team members caring for 2,100 residents at 17 senior living communities across BC. Having an effective return to\/recover at work program for injured workers is essential, not only for the workers themselves but also for their co-workers and the organization\u2019s operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kelowna, the organization has three residences and about 500 team members. They\u2019ve had a return-to-work program for the past three years but sought to enhance it earlier this year. The biggest change was introducing the idea of light or modified duties at the time of injury rather than waiting a couple of days for Human Resources to make those decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a big change for us,\u201d says Adrienne Hodges, director of Human Resources for Baptist Housing in Kelowna. \u201cNow the first aid attendant, typically an RN, can talk to the worker about appropriate modified work duties at the time of injury.\u201d

Supportive Environment<\/strong>

In the past, injured workers would see a doctor who may not know the environment or what other options might be available. This made it difficult for a doctor to recommend modified duties, so often, workers were instead directed to take time off work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hodges adds that offering injured workers light or modified duties allows them to stay in the work mindset and be supported by their colleagues, which helps support better recovery and has psychological benefits since they don\u2019t feel isolated at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hodges says the nursing team needed some education and training so they could feel comfortable identifying what light duties were appropriate. Some general education was developed for the team about the revamped program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOverall, the response has been positive. Our nurses thought it might take too long, or they wouldn\u2019t have the expertise to determine capabilities, but we involved the whole team in developing the program,\u201d she says. \u201cLike many organizations, we experience staff shortages, and part of this is because of injury to staff. Having injured staff at work, even though they aren\u2019t capable of performing their normal job means there is no salary disruption for the worker, it reduces the workload for others, and enhances the quality of life for our residents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to the task<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In developing the revised program, Hodges and the Baptist Housing team created\u201cjob jars\u201d and broke every role into small tasks. They then asked their team to identify the tasks they\u2019d like to do if they had the time. Next, they determined what tasks could be done appropriately given a particular injury. A binder was created that is divided by injury and lists the appropriate light duties and restrictions.

\u201cWe will have to wait to do more in-depth analysis, but we feel that our claims have been reduced, and we are not losing our staff for as long,\u201d says Hodges.\u201cIt was a big project but a very positive experience. I would definitely recommend this approach to others if they find they are always short-staffed because of injuries.\u201d

Generally, Baptist Housing\u2019s program applies to soft tissue injuries, but Hodges adds that even those with restricted limb mobility can still beat work. \u201cThey can still contribute,\u201d says Hodges. \u201cWhen someone is off work their expertise and skill set is lost, but by having them at work, they provide the expertise even if they aren\u2019t providing care directly. And if they can only provide companionship to our residents, there is huge value in that.\u201d

While this enhanced return to work program was piloted at Baptist Housing in Kelowna, it will soon be rolled out at its Victoria care residence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baptist Housing has 1,200 team members caring for 2,100 residents at 17 senior living communities across BC. Having an effective return to\/recover at work program for injured workers is essential, not only for the workers themselves but also for their co-workers and the organization\u2019s operations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"topic":[58],"class_list":["post-2450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-member-spotlight","topic-return-recover-at-work"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-15 20:46:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2450"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454,"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions\/2454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2450"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scbcdev.safecarebc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftopic&post=2450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}