We’ve changed our name a couple times in the past– we know! But, we landed on On Demand Occupational Medicine because it encompasses our business and its multiple specialties in creating a safe, healthy and productive environment at work and at home.
So, what really is occupational medicine? The American Medical Association describes occupational medicine as “the medical specialty devoted to the prevention and management of occupational and environmental injury, illness and disability, and promotion of health and productivity of workers, their families and communities.” Occupational medicine can include drug prevention in the workplace, prevention and treatment of workplace injuries and more. Let’s break this definition of occupational medicine down even further.
Prevention
As a business owner or manager, it is important to prevent any problems within the facility before they occur. For example, use of unprescribed drugs in the workplace can result in injury, damage and ultimately, lawsuits. In extremely unfortunate cases, use of illegal drugs in the workplace can result in death. Employers should be aware of employees’ behavior so that they can keep an eye out for suspicious activity or patterns. Don’t think of this as “babysitting,” but rather ensuring your workplace is productive and on-task each and every day. On Demand can work with you and your management team to detect these behaviors and prevent any potential accidents in the workplace.
However, occupational medicine deals with more than just drugs in the workplace. Common illnesses and diseases can occur within the workplace resulting in employees taking time off, sometimes quite extensively. Acquiring a “preferred provider” for your employees ensures you want your employees’ health to come first, and helps builds relationship with a reputable healthcare provider.
Management
Although preventing issues before they occur is ideal, it’s not always the easiest. Managing employees and being apparent about keeping an eye on them can help to prevent people from using or bringing drugs into the workplace. Make sure you are encouraging your employees to make good decisions not only at work, but in their personal life. Employees struggling with addiction can seem like a handful to employers, and may cause a rift between the employee and their supervisors, which creates a toxic company culture. On Demand teaches employers to recognize drug use and how to work with the employee to rehabilitate or start practicing better behaviors. Specialized K-9 units are also a good option for managing drugs internally by initiating random drug searches within the facility and outside.
Treatment
If rehabilitation for an addicted employee is a necessary route, On Demand health experts will work with you and your employee to choose a path most appropriate for them. Fortunately, On Demand is a sister company with New Day Recovery, a local drug and alcohol addiction treatment center focused on rehabilitating and restoring clients’ quality of life. Treatment allows employees to get sober, and potentially work to get their job back or reestablish broken relationships. The employee’s place of work is not always responsible for treatment costs, but it is beneficial to let the employee know you are interested in aiding them in their process with emotional support.
On Demand can also work with injured employees (non-drug related) to rehabilitate them and get them back to work quicker. Our Austintown, Ohio location hosts an in-house physical therapy room as well as an immediate care to treat strains, sprains and any other minor work-related injuries. Sending employees to On Demand can give you peace of mind knowing we try our best to rehabilitate and get employees back on their feet, quicker than our competitors, while also taking excellent care of our patient.
