—

¢ In late September the first group of graduates gathered in Port Alberni to receive their certificates as Disability Man-
agement Coordinators. I.W.A. Local 1-85 members Scott Green (second from left in front row) and Mark Bakken (right

end) were part of group.

National Disability Management Institute
passes first group of graduate students

Management Research has re-

ceived its diplomas. Two
I.W.A. CANADA Local 1-85 members,
Brothers Scott Green and Mark
Bakken, are members of that first
group of students that have taken
courses on how the become Disability
Management Coordinators in the
workplace.

Both Green and Bakken are mem-
bers of the disability management
committee at MacMillan Bloedel’s So-
mass sawmill division. Even though
the committee has been in place for
two years, it is the first time that ei-
ther of them have had a chance to
take some formal training.

Before the Institute begun opera-
tions last year, there was no single
place in North America where work-
ers or management could go to get
training on how to be Disability Man-
agement Coordinators.

The six week course is now offered
at the Institute’s facilities on the cam-
pus of North Island College in Port Al-
berni. The first course began in June
for three weeks and then adjourned
for the rest of the summer. The sec-
ond three week portion concluded in
late September when the students re-
ceived their graduation certificates.

Brother Green said'the course was
well worth it.

“The skills that you learn in this
program are to hopefully help you get
disabled persons back to work,” says
Green. “But it doesn’t necessarily
mean that every disabled worker is
going to a job.”

He says the course taught him how
a disability committee should set up a
game plan in stages. An important
part of the course taught that it is nec-
essary to maintain communication
with workers from the time that they
are injured, either on or off the job.
All too often the employer and fellow
workers completely lose track of the
disabled.

Brother Green says that people
should be aware that there are not a
lot of dollars in sick benefit programs

lhe first graduate class of the
National Institute of Disability

compared to regular wages and that
“people don’t realize it until they are
put out in that situation.”

“At Somass we are trying to come
up with jobs that are separate for dis-
abled people,” he says. “We’re doing
the best we can and have gotten good
results to date.”

In the past two years the committee
at Somass has reintegrated 23 of 25
workers who have been disabled.

Mark Bakken thinks that everyone
on the committee at Somass should
go through disability management
training.

He says that both the management
and labour participants in the course
were at the course with a common
goal.

Before the Institute
began there was no
place in North
America where
Disability
Management
Co-ordinators could
receive training

“Even though we had different
views on things, we still had the some
basic philosophy,” he says. “We could
understand the other person’s side,
even though we did’t agree on every-
thing.”

Bakken suggest that the union
eventually get disablility management.
personnel trained in each division.

“This whole program is set up as a
win-win situation,” he says. “You are
going to save money for the employer
and you are helping the disabled
worker become a productive employ-
ee again.”

Carol Keane, a rehab consultant
who works with the joint committees
in the MB Alberni Valley operations
took the course and says the program
is excellent, especially in terms of in-

forming the students on laws and how

legislation may be coming down the
road.

“If companies do truly start acco-
modation (of disabled workers) on
their own, there won't be any need to
legislate it,” she says. “There are a lot
of jobs that we can associate with the
forest industry - maybe not in a mill
but they are out there and it’s just a
matter of being really creative on find-
ing out what they are and matching
that up with the people’s interests and
aptitudes.”

Dave Haggard, President of Port Al-
berni Local 1-85, which has supported
the program since its inception, says
that “I think the disabled worker pro-
gram has to expand but I think it
shoould be one step at a time.”

We have to make sure that what we
do is right,” he says. “If we don’t do it
that way, in the long-run we'll lose. If
we get it wrong, then our membership
and the general public will not be in
support to let it happen again.”

Brother Haggard says that local
union is proud to have played a role in
supporting the Institute and that the
community of Port Alberni has been
very progressive on disablity issues.

“I think that we have a major re-
sponsibility to the people we repre-
sent to not allow them to fall through
the cracks,” says Haggard. “When peo-
ple get injured in our industry we
have programs that soften the blow,
but there’s nothing better than if we
can get the individual back to work on
the job.”

Haggard says that MacMillan
Bloedel has been a major proponent
of the Institute but that there are oth-
er major employers that need to get
on side.

Wolfgang Zimmermang, Executive
Director of the Institute, says that
large companies such as Interfor,
Weldwood Canada, Northwood, West
Fraser, Slocan and Eurocan have yet
to lend their support to the Institute’s
endowment fund. So far the Institute
has raised $4-1/2 million for the fund
and needs to raise up to $7-8 million
in order to fund operations and devel-
op a disability information system
known as REHADAT Canada.

The system will offer leading ot

technology on case studies of work-
place accommodation.

The Institute now has REHADAT
software provided to it by the govern-
ment of Germany.

“There is a lot of interest in the cir:
riculum from across the country,
says Zimmerman. “It’s really a ques-
tion of promoting it but also getting
comittment from employers and
unions to implement disability man-
agement programs and take the asso-
ciated training that is part of it.”

“We hope that Disability Manage-
ment programs will become part of
the value system in the workplace,
where we focus on the person's abili-
ties

The six week Disability Case Man-
agement program is being reviewed.
The course’s diploma issued by the
University of British Columbia’s De-
partment of Continuing Education.

Institute receives
funding boosts
from government

In late June the National Institute of
Disability Management and Research
received some needed funding from
the provincial and federal govern-
ments. The Institute received $1 mil-
lion each from both levels of govern-
ment as part of a permanent
endowment fund which is being es-
tablished.

On hand to present a cheque from
the B.C. government was Port Alberni
MLA Gerard Janssen, who was in at-
tendance on behalf of Employment.
and Investment Minister Glen Clark.
The Institute’s goal is to raise over $7
million in an endowment fund which
will be uses to sustain the Institute
well into the future. The Institute is
situated on the campus of North Is-
Jand College in Port Alberni.

“The Institute will not only provide
employment and help diversify the re-
sources of North Island College, but it
will also serve members of the com-
munity who work in the forest and
other industries.”

Presenting the other cheque for $1
million was David Anderson, Federal
Minister of National Revenue.

The Institute plans
to raise over
$7 million
for its operations

In addition the University of British
Columbia’s Dr. Daniel Birch, an-
nounced that UBC will join the Insti-
tute to jointly participate in projects
related to disability management.

Also on hand was Helmut Haines,
Ministerial Director of the German
Federal Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs to announce that the German
government will assist the Institute by
help it develop a new data system to
be know as REHADAT Canada. The
German Institut de Wirtschaft in Co-
longe has developed a CD-ROM based
information system with over 45,000
documents of information which will
be accessed by the Institute.

Other partners who have helped the
Institute build its endowment fund in-
clude Human Resources Development
Canada, Insurance Corporation of
British Columbia, MacMillan Bloedel,
Canadian Forest Products, Weyer-
haeuser Canada, TimberWest Forest
Products, Fletcher Challenge Canada,
the Coulson Group of Companies, the
Workers Compensation Board of
British Columbia, the British Colum-
bia Rehabilitation Society and CU&C
Health Services.

a
10/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1995