Workforce Health Ribbon Cutting Celebrates Benefits to Accompany Their Redesign

Workforce Health Ribbon Cutting Celebrates Benefits to Accompany Their Redesign

A healthy workplace contributes to a healthy bottom line in any business. On September 13, Workforce Health hosted an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the redesign of its Valparaiso clinic. The event presented attendees the chance to tour the remodeled spaces and visit with the organization’s providers and corporate health consultants, such as business and health professionals from La Porte Hospital and Porter Regional. WorkForce Health Solutions is a service of both hospitals.

Illustrating the value of its expertise and the benefits of a successful occupational health program, Workforce Health employees offered businesses insight into their extensive occupational health and corporate wellness program. Business operations professionals, physicians, physical therapists and ergonomic specialists, nurse practitioners, and other Workforce Health employees gathered to connect with business representatives from local companies. Sean Dardeau, CEO of Porter Health Care System and market CEO for Northwest Indiana, said that the space represents a significant investment and improvement in the way the company provides care to the local workforce.

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“The expert staff is dedicated first and foremost to helping our local businesses prevent workplace injuries and illnesses,” Dardeau said. “When one occurs, our highly trained staff works across multiple specialties to help our patients heal and get back to their everyday lives.”

The $120,000 investment includes a 920-square-foot addition with two patient care areas and an office space of about 175 square feet, with two work stations for staff members who float between all three Workforce Health locations in Northwest Indiana: Valparaiso, Portage, and La Porte.

Physical Therapist and Ergonomic Specialist Ron Knickrehm explained how the new space allows him and his fellow employees to better serve their patients in a variety of ways. “From a provider standpoint, I can say that the new space helps us provide care more efficiently,” Knickrehm said. “It allows us to schedule clients more conveniently for evaluations and treatments, even seeing more than one patient at a time.” The new space, he said, allows for a common, spacious areas to perform screenings, evaluations and exercises. Items such as full kegs, concrete chutes, large sheets of plywood, and ladders are just some of the tools Knickrehm uses in the newly-remodeled therapy gym to evaluate and teach clients proper lifting techniques and other on-the-job safety practices.

Knickrehm has been with Workforce Health for 11 years, ever since the Valparaiso facility first opened its doors. It is safe to say that he knows everything there is to know about industrial medicine.

“I love what I do,” he said.

“We teach patients proper mechanics,” he said. “If they have a work-related injury, we teach them how to prevent it from happening again. Our hope is that they come away from the visit better than they came in. As a therapist, I want our patients to return to work, and their daily lives, healed and functioning at the highest level possible, as soon as possible.”

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, guests were treated to complimentary refreshments and more touring opportunities, plus another chance for those bold enough to test out new beer barrel lifting skills.

To learn more about the services Workforce Health offers or to schedule a consultation, visit their website today.