Injury Management Solutions

In this issue:

Turn your WSIB premium remittance into opportunity

Heart health – prevention for disease

WSIB changes their service delivery model.. AGAIN!

How to facilitate successful Return to Work programs!

Turn your WSIB Premium Remittance into opportunity

As 2010 unfolds there are a myriad of concerns for any business. Market conditions, productivity, employee engagement, government regulations, soaring energy costs, human resources and, of course, WSIB among many others.

We guarantee(2) that we will save you money!

Call us now for your free consultation:

289-238-9379  or 289-237-8188

⁽¹⁾ WSIB for New Experimental Experience Rating – which is neither new or experimental!

⁽²⁾ As consultants, we value your trust as much as your business. Once we have conducted our assessment (remember the free consultation) we will save you money either through direct reduction in your WSIB premiums or cost savings in your processes.

If you do not save money (and usually time) or you are not satisfied with our services, we will refund your money, no questions asked.

THIS... is the Injury Management Solutions' NO-RISK partnership!

Heart Health – Prevention for Disease

“Every year, heart disease and stroke are responsible for 1 in 3 deaths in Canada.” - Heart & Stroke Foundation

Vitamin D - Low levels of vitamin D are known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes, and researchers now think they know why.

Diabetics deficient in vitamin D can't process cholesterol normally, so it builds up in their blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. New research has identified a mechanism linking low vitamin D levels to heart disease risk, and may lead to ways to fix the problem, simply by increasing levels of vitamin D.

Vitamin D inhibits the uptake of cholesterol by cells called macrophages. When people are deficient in vitamin D, the macrophage cells absorb more cholesterol, and can't get rid of it. The macrophages get clogged with cholesterol and become what scientists call foam cells, which are one of the earliest markers of atherosclerosis.

Recommended dose 5000 units per day for adults.

D-Ribose – is made in the cells and the body uses it in a variety of ways that are all critical to cellular function. When muscle reserves are depleted, whether through exercise or a heart condition, ribose supplementation can help and an adequate dose will usually result in improvement very quickly.

Recommended dose 5 g per day

CoQ10 - The benefits of CoQ10 are numerous, and it is one of the most important compounds for maintaining the proper functioning of the heart. A deficiency of CoQ10 (CoEnzyme Q10) can lead to various kinds of heart disease among other serious health conditions.

Recommended dose 100 mg – 300mg

L- Carnitine –  The strongest research evidence for the it’s benefits comes from studies of patients being treated for various forms of cardiovascular disease. It has been shown to improve survivor rates of heart attacks by reducing the likehood of subsequent attacks as well as improving exercise capacity in person with arterial disease and decreasing angina.

Recommended dose 500 mg – 4000mg

Also, keeping your inflammation levels low is key if you want to reduce your risk of heart disease (as well as many other chronic diseases).

Among the key points to remember are:

• Reduce your intake of grains, including corn-based foods, and all sweets and potatoes, dramatically.

Any meal or snack high in unhealthy carbohydrates generates a rapid rise in blood glucose and then insulin to compensate for the rise in blood sugar. The insulin released from eating too many carbohydrates promotes fat and makes it more difficult for your body to lose fat, and excess weight, particularly around your belly, is one of the major contributors to heart disease.

• Exercise regularly.

Exercise not only lowers inflammation in your body, it is also one of the best weapons to fight visceral fat, which again is linked to heart disease.

Remember, you can be thin, underweight even, and still have dangerous visceral fat around your organs. If you are thin, but rarely exercise, this may be you. And if you have a beer belly or a lot of fat around your midsection, you can also bet on the fact that you’re holding onto visceral fat.

• Get your omega-3 fats!

High-quality, animal-based omega-3 fats such as those in krill oil help protect your heart from disease. Studies have shown that omega-3 works by preventing the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries.

• Optimize your iron levels.

Iron can be a very potent oxidative stress, so if you have excess iron levels you can damage your blood vessels and increase your risk of heart disease.

Ideally, you should monitor your ferritin levels and make sure they are not much above 80 ng/ml. The simplest way to lower them if they are elevated is to donate your blood. If that is not possible you can have a therapeutic phlebotomy and that will effectively eliminate the excess iron from your body.

• Manage your stress levels with healthy emotional outlets.

One of the most common contributing factors to heart disease -- and for that matter, cancer -- is unresolved emotional stresses. Anger, stress, guilt, sadness -- really any emotion that doesn’t make you feel good -- can lead to heart attacks, obesity and strokes. Even the best diet in the world is not likely to overcome the damage created by lingering emotional stresses.

Further, when your body is under the stress response, your cortisol levels rise. And when your cortisol is chronically elevated, you’ll tend to gain weight around your midsection, which further increases your heart disease risk.

While you cannot eliminate stress entirely, you can work to provide your body with tools to compensate for the bioelectrical short-circuiting that can cause serious disruption in many of your body's important systems.

WSIB changes their service delivery model... AGAIN!

After approximately a decade of assigning operational front line staff to specific employers and industrial sectors, the WSIB began implementing a new Service Delivery Model in 2008 and completed the transition of their Service Delivery Teams this past summer. This change has deprived employers, and workers, of industry and employer-specific knowledge, working relationships and the resulting efficiencies.

As well, this new service delivery model has removed and continues to remove key employer resources: Account Managers, Customer Service Representatives; RTW⁽¹⁾ Mediators⁽²⁾, Claims Investigators and potentially even more positions as the Board struggles with their own financial issues.

If your company, or you, have a workplace injury/ illness claim and lose time here is the scenario:

As well as these changes, the WSIB Operations Division created a SIEF (Secondary Injury Enhancement Fund) Team to decide on all SIEF issues. Front line Adjudicators and Case Managers are encourage not to allow any SIEF without an application from the employer. Other teams are being established to handle areas such as re-opened claims. How this impacts the employer stakeholders remains to be seen.

⁽¹⁾ RTW = Return to Work

⁽²⁾ A new position has recently been introduced, RTW Specialist, who is dispatched by the WSIB to attempt to resolve RTW workplace issues at the employer’s location.

How to facilitate successful Return to Work programs

Return to Work (RTW) programs help get injured employees back to full function⁽¹). However, initial RTW success is often not sustained. Estimates show that an 85% initial success rate can drop to 50% a year later due to injury related absences⁽²). Thus what influences RTW success?

RTW Program Success Factors

The following factors have been shown to affect RTW program success;

1. Female and older employees have a higher rate of re-injury thus an employer could compensate by allowing a slower introduction of full duties from modified duties.
2. Job attachment / satisfaction, workplace culture, psychosocial environment, etc. are associated with success. Reducing injury rates and risk, fostering employee / employer relationships, good communication, good health and safety practices and facilitating employee participation improve these elements and increase success.
3. Sprains and strains decrease success versus other injuries. Many modified tasks will partly utilize the injured area since these injuries are only partially immobilized. Post injury a greater susceptibility and a lower tolerance to stresses can offset the benefits of modified work and impair healing.
4. Physical job tasks have a lower success rate. These tasks are similar to physical exercise thus transition back to full function can cause overuse and over exertion. Graduated work hardening should be used to ramp up to full function stresses.
5. Social economic status (SES) affects RTW success. Factors such as; education, income, social support, substance abuse, job flexibility and occupation affect success rates. Although controlling for SES is difficult it does help identify unsuccessful RTW risks.
6. Ergonomist involvement can significantly increase success(³⁾ because they assist management in making appropriate RTW decisions. Ergonomist involvement can also increase employee confidence in RTW decisions and increase rehabilitation knowledge.

Successful RTW programs can decrease injury related absences, re-injury and days of modified work resulting in decreased costs and improved employee health and wellness.

References:

(1.)        Krause, N. et al. (1998) “Modified work and return to work: A review of the literature” Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, Vol. 8 (2) p.113-139

(2.)       Butler, R. et al. (1995) “Managing work disability: Why first return to work is not a measure of success” Industrial & Labour Relations Review Vol. 48 (3) p.452-469

(3.)        Bernacki, E. et al. (2000) “Facilitated early return to work program at a large urban medical center” Journal of Occupational Environmental Medicine Vol. 42 p.1172-1177