Province launches new supports for people returning to work following a disability

Malcolmson said this partnership is important work to break the cycle of poverty by delivering support to those who most need it. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

People in Nanaimo will now have an easier time returning to work following a disability with a new provincial program.

In partnership with the Government of Canada, the Government of B.C. and the National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR), are implementing a new program to provide resources and support for workers and employers following a worker disability.

The Reducing Poverty through Early Intervention and Occupational Rehabilitation Initiative (RPI) is being implemented as a three-year pilot program in Nanaimo, Kelowna, Prince George and Vancouver.

CHLY attended the press conference on July 25 announcing the new initiative with MLA for Nanaimo and Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Sheila Malcolmson.

Malcolmson said her ministry hears from people who are looking for employment support and this new initiative is one pillar of the province's 2024 poverty reduction strategy that was announced on July 24. The 2024 strategy is an update to the province’s 2019 strategy.

“I hear again and again that when people have a job and the community connections that come with a job, they're better off and they feel better and people tell me they want to be providers for themselves and for their families,” Malcolmson said. “Our government, of course, continues to be committed to supporting people who can't work, but people that want to work but have faced barriers getting there, it's our job as a responsible government to help them get over that.”

She said they have found gaps in current support and services for working people who become injured or disabled outside of the workforce and cannot be supported by WorkBC or collective agreements.

“It's a significant slice of the injured population–people that want to work and want to have that connection and pride and income that aren't able to get there,” Malcolmson said. I've heard from people that in those circumstances, at the point that they are on disability assistance for a year or more, it's very hard to get off it.”

To combat this Malcolmson said the province is launching the new RPI program for people who are unable to work due to injury or disability. 

She said the ministry worked with NIDMAR to have them design the program based on lived experiences.

“We gave the money to NIDMAR and said, you design it, you implement it, you deliver the service,” she said, “We as government learn from what you're doing and then that informs all the rest of our program delivery and what we are able to build in permanently going forward.”

Malcolmson said this partnership is important work to break the cycle of poverty by delivering support to those who most need it.

She said the program will support both the employee and the employer in their return to work by assessing employment strengths and healthcare needs, their occupational therapy needs, and then developing personal return-to-work plans.

“Then they've got the certified disability management professional there with them to provide ongoing support,” she said. “We're not just gonna get people to the threshold of back to work, we're gonna support them and their employer so that they succeed and that they return to work.”

She said the personal needs and employment support will be different for everyone. It will come down to NIDMAR working with an individual’s specialized needs.

People can either contact NIDMAR directly or contact their local WorkBC office, which will make the referral to NIDMAR for them.

Mayor of Nanaimo, Leonard Krog said this new program will greatly support those who work—or want to work—but are injured or disabled.

“I was never one of those who believed that people didn't want to work–most of us want to feel useful, we want to be employed, we want to be able to look after ourselves,” Krog said. “But there are circumstances where that becomes a challenge for a whole series of reasons and this program is there for those people.”

He said this program is for those who have fallen through the cracks and otherwise would not be able to return to work.

“Collectively, this morning, the Government of British Columbia has announced in my community, a program that's going to help my citizens better their lives, restore dignity to themselves through employment and the opportunity to be independent,” Krog said.

After the press conference, CHLY spoke with Wolfgang Zimmerman, the Executive Director of NIDMAR.

Zimmerman, who uses a wheelchair today, broke his back during his first week working in forestry. He said he is supportive of the initiative and said returning to work with a disability comes down to having good support and a good attitude during the healing journey.

“And what ended up happening is that once a commitment was made that I would go back to work–this was a logging camp outside of Port Alberni, totally inaccessible,” Zimmerman said. “But once they made the commitment that I was gonna go back to work It took the engineering department a couple of hours to figure out how to build access because it was a long camp [with] 450 guys, the administrative building was completely inaccessible.”

He said mentally, he needed to go back to work after the accident.

“If I hadn't been able to go back to work right away, I wouldn't be here today,” he said. “That's why it's so important to intervene early before the psychosocial compounding sort of takes hold.”

According to NIDMAR, 80 per cent of all illnesses and injuries occur during an individual’s working life.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.