12.03.2015

Is Northwestern Occupational Health still Open?

Yes, it is and it is growing! Through partnerships with local employers, Northwestern Occupational Health (NOH) has been helping keep workers healthy in our community for many years and continues to grow. In the past year, our client list has grown by more than 150 local companies!

Occupational Health is a specialized approach to prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation that focuses on the health of a workforce to avoid injury, ensure appropriate treatment, and customize rehabilitation to the needs of a worker’s role. NOH’s company-specific programs and personalized services have helped many local employers reduce the rate and the severity of employee injuries while helping individuals get back to work as soon and as safely as possible. For the employee, this keeps them productive and earning a paycheck. For a company, working with NOH can reduce costs by avoiding costly accidents and injuries, coordinating care among specialists, and keeping injured workers progressing towards a full return.

The success stories are powerful, such as the story of Tammy Laframboise, shared on the NOH website, which says: Tammy “delivers mail on a rural route in Jericho, a job she’s done for three decades and one she loves. When she was hit by another car head-on this last fall, she feared the resulting injury would mean she’d have to give up her job, and maybe that she’d never drive without anxiety again. After work with Physical Therapist Lori Deering, Laframboise got back to work quicker than she thought possible, feeling stronger and more confident than she ever had. “It’s been my godsend,” Laframboise said of the work rehabilitation program she participated in with Northwestern Occupational Health (NOH).”

Currently, the providers at NOH include Dr. Richard White, Dr. Richard James (who will be leaving to pursue another opportunity in early 2016), and Nurse Practitioner Doreen Benoit.

NOH’s main office is located in Cobblestone Health Commons on the NMC campus at 260 Crest Road in St. Albans. They provide injured worker care (for non-emergent needs) at their Cobblestone location, as well as at the Georgia location of Northwestern Urgent Care. These two locations and integration with Northwestern Urgent Care allow injured workers to be seen, treated, and get back to work safely as soon as possible.

In addition to injured worker care, NOH’s specialized services include: pre-employment physicals, Department of Transportation (DOT) exams, OSHA exams, functional capacity evaluations, hearing testing, respirator exams, drug and alcohol testing, and more. NOH’s “Work Rehabilitation Program” is a highly-specialized, physician-directed, highly-personalized, multi-disciplinary approach through which individuals are assisted in achieving the “maximum medical improvement.”

NOH has a strong focus on wellness and prevention, working with local employers to reduce lost time due to both injury and non-workplace-related health concerns. In partnership with NMC’s Lifestyle Medicine Department, NOH goes onsite at companies to provide health risk appraisals, screenings (such as blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes), health fairs, immunizations (flu shots, hepatitis B tetanus, etc), nutrition counseling, tobacco cessation services, and other customized programs.

Healthy workforces are key to the health of local businesses. At NMC, we are very proud of the work the NOH team does to help our local employers – businesses, industries, agencies, municipalities, etc. For more information on NOH and how it can help improve the health of your workforce, call NOH Director Brendan McMahon at 524-8426 or email him at [email protected]. We greatly appreciate the support of our business community! Thank you for allowing us to be your business partner in keeping a safe and healthy workforce.

— Jill Berry Bowen, NMC’s Chief Executive Officer