The Industrial Medicine Program at OSF St. Francis Hospital is designed to be a bridge between the hospital and the workplace. The program promotes safety and good health for employees and is individually developed for each specific employer. Our Rehabilitation staff offers work site consultations as well as educational preventive programs and are knowledgeable in state and federal regulations. The program is designed to restore the patient's emotional and physical health after an injury or leave of absence and to return the patient back to the role of an employee.

This process is done by simulating the patient's work activities and reconditioning the individual through the use of state-of-the-art isokinetic and isotonic back and extremity machines. The work effort performed by the patient in his or her occupation--whatever that may be--is created and mirrored in the Rehabilitative Services Department. If the patient does computer work, shovels dirt, drives a truck, moves boxes, etc., that activity is performed within the department.

After the initial job assessment or analysis, the patient begins with a three-hour session and steadily increases to a full eight-hour work day, ultimately preparing that individual to return to work as soon as possible. The entire program takes approximately six to eight weeks, depending on the patient's individual needs and extent of disability. Some patients may complete the program in as little as two to four weeks.

The goal of the Industrial Medicine Program is to return the injured worker to employment as soon as safely possible. Established in 1988, the program uses a 1,500 square foot work simulation area and boasts a 75 to 80 percent return-to-work rate as the most cost-effective program in the Upper Peninsula.

Benefits of the Program

The Worker Benefits by:

• Building strength and endurance
• Returning to earning capacity
• Restoring confidence
• Education to reduce risk of re-injury

The Employer Benefits by:

• Returning employee to gainful activity
• Reducing re-injury rate
• Lowering workers' compensation costs
• Reducing hiring and training expenditures by maintaining skills of experienced employees
• Coordinating worker's return to work

The Insurance Carrier Benefits by:

• Facilitating return to work
• Lowering cost of disability
• Providing objective assessment of physical capabilities
• Determining worker's assets and limitations

Services offered in the Industrial Medicine Program include, but are not limited to:

• Work Hardening: This program is designed to restore the patient's emotional and physical health, after an injury or leave of absence, and return the patient back to the role of an employee.
• On-site job evaluations and back care programs
• Functional capacity work evaluations
• Cumulative trauma programs
• Ergonomics
• Cybex Trunk Extension/Flexion, Trunk Rotation and LIFTTASK isokinetic testing with comparison to normative value
• Injury prevention programs
• Instruction in proper body mechanics and posture
• Instruction in proper lifting technique

Our Staff

Staff involved with the OSF Rehabilitative Services Industrial Medicine program include: physicians specialized in industrial rehabilitation; physical therapists accredited through specific work hardening courses; occupational therapists; vocational rehabilitation counselors; and trained technicians in work hardening.

You can refer patients to the OSF Rehabilitative Services Industrial Medicine program if you are a physician, or if you are an employer, insurance carrier or rehabilitation provider and have a physician's written order.

For more information about the program or to make a referral, please call the OSF St. Francis Hospital Rehabilitation Department at 906-786-5707 x5300, or toll-free in the Upper Peninsula at 1-800-786-2040 x5300.