Driving Recovery

Have you ever found yourself sidelined by an unforeseen circumstance, grappling with the uncertainty of your future? Imagine the fear of a truck driver, Walter, who severely injured his shoulder and couldn't drive anymore. His journey of physical recovery also became a journey of mental resilience, as he navigated the uncharted territories of recovery and reemployment. Founder & CEO of ReEmployAbility, Debra Livingston, joins us to share Walter's transformational journey, a narrative that might resonate with many of us.

If you know anyone whose story should be told, please let us know. Email todd@reemployability.com. 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

R-E-A-R-E-A-R-E-A-R-E-A Audio R-E-A-audio , r-e-a-audio .

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R-E-A-audio . R-e-a-audio . R-e-a-audio Reemployability , reemployability , reemployability , reemployability .

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Season 3 .

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Walter was a truck driver who had a pretty severe injury to his shoulder , so much so that he couldn't drive any longer .

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Now , his first thought when he was injured wasn't well , here's my chance to get paid for sitting at home , or now's my chance to get that remodeling job done while I collect my insurance money , or I'm going to call Smith , smith and Smythe to sue the heck out of my employer . Now , walter's first thought was how am I going to get on with my life and take care of my family ? Can you relate to that ? Have you ever had something happen that puts you on the sideline , forced you to maybe stay at home , unsure of what the next step's going to be or what you're going to be doing next week or next month ? Maybe you were concerned about your own health , maybe you were receiving conflicting information about the future . Now , I've never had an injury at work like that , but I definitely had many of those same feelings that an injured worker has after sustaining an injury around the middle of March 2020 . Here's President and CEO of Reemployability , dabba Livingston .

Speaker 1 1:24

And so it's the same thing any of us would think right , and in fact we all just recently did think that as we went through this pandemic . I think we all have an ability now to really relate to what an injured worker goes through after living through that this experience ourselves . So he was very concerned how am I going to take care of my family ? And then eventually he got to the point of recovery where he was referred to our program . And then that was another thing he had to go through was well , what is this all about , and why are you going to have me volunteer in an organization , and how does that help me support my family ?

Speaker 2 1:56

So here's Walter dealing first with a physical struggle , recovering from the pain of his injury , and now suffering mentally because he can't see how working at a not-for-profit is going to get him back on his feet . Walter was a proud man who just wanted to be productive . Here's Deb again .

Speaker 1 2:13

And so we shared with Walter and we communicated very effectively with him how this would benefit from him , how he would recover and how he would earn a paycheck by his employer while he went through our program . And once he learned about that he softened a bit but he was still pretty skeptical about the whole idea about going somewhere else to actually work . But once he started working at the non-profit organization even though he wasn't driving , which was what his ultimate , obviously his job was he realized how many people in his community he was helping , he was connecting to his community . He recognized what a need there was in his community for the organization that he was working for . He made connections . He made connections and met people that he still engages with to this day .

Speaker 2 3:02

When life gives you lemons right and I've always heard that when one door closes , another one opens . Think back on your life . Sometimes it's fun to think about an event or a person that's been or is impactful on you . How'd you get to be in that situation with that person ? Many times it's a result of a series of incidences you never thought would happen or be expected .

Speaker 2 3:24

Did Walter ever think that he would get a shoulder injury driving a truck and then grow closer to his community during his recovery ? I doubt it . So at the start Walter was scared and confused . He didn't receive the best communication from his employer so he didn't know the why . But he did what he was asked to do and reluctantly attended his modified duty assignment at Fort White Community Thrift Shop . His injuries were accommodated and he was responsible for the register at the front . As he continued to show up and do his assignment , his skepticism lessened and he began to really understand the value of what he was doing . Walter said working for the not-for-profit keeps me more active than just staying at home . It keeps my mind occupied instead of feeling bad for myself . So how do you recreate an experience like Walter's for other employers in the same situation as him ?

Speaker 1 4:18

Deb explains . I believe that if you give people the care and resources they need , the rest will take care of itself , they will recover and they will get well . And what I mean by that is communicate effectively , be transparent and educate them on the process . I think one of the things we tend to forget about those of us that have been in the industry for a long time , because we know the industry and we know the workers' compensation , the way things work in the system , we know the system .

Speaker 1 4:48

Injured workers don't . In most cases it's the first time they've ever been injured , they've ever experienced any kind of a program like workers' compensation . So it's important to really , even on the front end of an injury , before it even happens , for them to know what to do in the event one occurs . But then once it occurs , it's like communicate , communicate , communicate and educate right . Tell them up front what they can expect , who the adjuster is , all the players and the parties , they adjusters , the nurses , whoever else they're dealing with , and how they'll get their medical care . And then they have to understand the return to work process , especially if you're using a company like ours . They really need to understand why . Why am I going to go offsite to go to a nonprofit organization . How does that help me ? Because , at the end of the day , they do want to recover , but they want to understand what's in it for them .

Speaker 2 5:35

And not only that , what's in it for the community ? The chairman for the not-for-profit that Walter was assigned said Walter's been a great blessing to us and a real asset to our community . Although we're glad for him to be recovering and able to reenter the workforce at a better rate of pay , we're truly going to miss him and the contributions he's made to our organization . So an unfortunate injury led to a greater understanding of worth and a significant impact on the community and Walter's back doing what he loves driving his truck . Who knows where he would have been without the support of his company , family and temporary place to focus his time and talents .

Speaker 2 6:24

Thanks for listening to REA Audio . Now we need you to help us out . If you know someone whose story should be told , please let us know . Email Todd at reemployabilitycom . That email address link will be in the show notes as well . We'd love to have you follow REA Audio on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Stitcher , wherever you get your podcasts . You can also check out more content at listentoreacom . Remember , lead with the good and have a great rest of your week .