Care Center Personnel Keep GIW Employees Well
GIW Occupational Health Nurse[br] Katja King, Registered Nurse
You’ll find King in the Care Center along with a nurse, nurse practitioner, and physician who we contracted through University Health.
“In the Care Center, there is an office for Target Care; they’re here four days a week, and they do our wellness program, including all the coaching, monitoring, and screening for employees’ health and wellness,” King says. “I do everything else, from first-aid care for on-site injuries and handling workman’s compensation issues to dispensing medication for illnesses.”
The best part about all the Care Center resources is they’re free.
“Not having to pay copays means employees are more likely to come in early to get taken care of, which will prevent them from getting sicker and missing more work,” King says. “Prevention is key!”
Top health and safety programs
To help everyone at GIW take prevention seriously, King and others in the Care Center work with in-house resources and outside vendors to develop programs and offer screenings aimed at keeping GIW workers healthy and safe.
Although King is relatively new to the GIW team, she’s excited to continue several of the popular and beneficial programs in place.
- Surveillance testing — Each employee who wears a respirator receives a pulmonary function test, chest X-ray, and respirator fit-test every two years to ensure he or she is staying safe from job environmental hazards.
- Hearing tests — Because many GIW employees work in noisy environments, we offer hearing tests annually.
- Mammograms — An outside vendor provides annual on-site breast-imaging tests.
Vaccinations — “More than half of our employees take advantage of our annual flu vaccine,” King says. “We also provide vaccinations and prescriptions for employees who travel for business.”- Blood drives — An outside vendor sponsors these events, which happen up to four times a year.
- Health fairs — These popular events often feature a variety of attendee learning opportunities and screening options.[br][br]“In the past, there have been nursing students who have done assessments and physical therapists who can show the employees how to perform helpful exercises and stretches,” King says.
- Over-the-counter medication — “We have over-the-counter medication for a variety of things — Mucinex, Sudafed, acid reflux medications, everything,” King says. “Having that available and having someone with the capability of dispensing these things is a huge advantage to the employees!”
- First-responder training — This voluntary program teaches employees about bloodborne pathogens and first aid; educates them on how to use Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs); and provides adult and child CPR training and certification. Previously, we were using an outside vendor to provide this training; however, King will be certified to take on the role moving forward.
More wellness opportunities in 2017
While it may seem like these extensive offerings have GIW workers’ health and safety covered, King is looking forward to further expanding the programs. She explains that the Care Center team is going to provide even more opportunities to help workers improve and maintain their health — both in and out of work — in 2017.
These programs provide just a glimpse into the ways we take care of our GIW family. We’re happy to have Nurse King on board to guide us into a healthier, more knowledgeable future, and it sounds like she’s excited to take the helm.
“I think it’s great that we have screenings and options for our employees to get things taken care of early,” she says. “These are tools they can use here and at home — it just helps keep our people a little safer.”
When an employer cares, everybody wins.
[cta]Do you have questions about the industry, our company, or our products and services? Email your comments and questions to paaron@giwindustries.com.To learn more about GIW, call 1.888.TECHGIW (832-4449) or visit us online.[/cta]
