Author: Sheena Cook

The Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) is pleased to announce two new members to its Board of Governors.

Lance Blanco, Senior Vice President Corporate Development for Hardwoods Distribution located in Vancouver has joined the Board. After sustaining a spinal cord injury in a mountain biking accident, his role at Hardwoods was modified and he continues to be instrumental in the company’s success, overseeing its growth to 66 branches with 1,300 employees and $1.2 billion in annual sales.

Shanna Ramm, CPHR, is Senior Disability and Wellness Specialist, Human Resources, with The Mosaic Company located in Regina. She is currently completing her fourth year of the Bachelor of Disability Management degree program at PCU-WHS, achieving a 4.0 GPS and is the first student representative to sit on the Board.

Wolfgang Zimmermann, President of PCU-WHS, said, “There is an increasing emphasis on better return-to-work outcomes across many public and private sector workplaces today, recognizing that more than 80 percent of all mental and physical health impairments occur during someone’s working life. Our Board is committed to making return to work part of the recovery process in tandem with all other facets of the workplace health spectrum.”

For further details with regard to these appointments, and ongoing initiatives of PCU-WHS, please see the attached newsletter.

The Scottish Government has invested in the provision of a five-year program aimed at training up to 300 individuals to become Certified Disability Management Professionals (CDMPs) to serve the country’s public and private sector groups dedicated to maintaining meaningful employment for workers with long term health conditions, injuries or disabilities.

Attached please find the IDMSC Communiqué with further details.

Photo Back Row L to R: Ken Neumann, Canadian National Director United Steelworkers and Co-Chair PCU-WHS; Dean Winsor, Sr Vice President Human Resources Teck Resources and Co-Chair PCU-WHS; Lee Loftus, Vice Chair Board of Directors WorkSafeBC; Honourable Wayne G. Wouters, OC, PC, Chancellor PCU-WHS
Photo Front Row L to R: Honourable Harry Bains, Minister of Labour; Wolfgang Zimmermann, OBC, President PCU-WHS

Please find attached a News Release regarding a joint WorkSafeBC – Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) initiative announced March 8 which provides interested students with the opportunity to receive an annual $6,000 Scholarship for each of the last two years of the Bachelor of Disability Management program at PCU-WHS.

There is an increasing focus on better Return to Work outcomes for individuals who acquire a mental or physical health impairment while employed, as there is significant evidence that all too often, when continued employment is not maintained, the individual with a disability starts the slide towards poverty, homelessness, addiction or worse.

Improved Disability Management efforts have become a priority for Workers Compensation Boards, employers, unions, and other stakeholders right across the country.

In the process, systematic initiatives by many organizations are creating tremendous and increasing professional opportunities in the field of Disability Management and Return to Work, while also being able to positively influence socio-economic outcomes for many.

This WorkSafeBC initiative is a first, with potentially a number of others to follow, and is a strategic effort to increase the pipeline of potential professionals interested in a rewarding career in the area of major emerging professional opportunities, not only with WorkSafeBC, but employers, insurance companies, unions and private rehabilitation providers across British Columbia, Canada and internationally.

For further details, please visit the website at:
https://www.pcu-whs.ca/programs/bdm/worksafebc-pcu-whs-scholarship-pilot-project/

Or contact the University at:
Jennifer Murray
Student Services & Records Coordinator
PCU-WHS
Tel: 778-421-0821, ext. 209
Email: education@pcu-whs.ca

The International Forum on Disability Management – IFDM 2018 – hosted by PCU-WHS provided an opportunity to sit down with individuals representing a wide variety of perspectives. These interviews are available for viewing under the Video Library tab of this website and are in addition to the IFDM videos also available in the Video Library:
https://www.pcu-whs.ca/video-library/

In late January, a MOU was signed between the Inter-American Center for Social Security Studies (CIESS) and the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) and the National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR).

The CIESS, headquartered in Mexico City has developed programs of activities that address priority aspects of social security for their region which encompasses the Americas and the Caribbean, covering 36 countries and a membership of more than 80 institutions.

The MOU creates the opportunity for the adoption of educational programming and the best practice professional and program standards in Return to Work and Disability Management for the member organizations of the CIESS, and expands the global membership in the International Disability Management Standards Council (IDMSC) to 64 countries.

It is hoped that the further adoption of best practice standards in Disability Management and Return to Work will help change the narrative with regard to detrimental outcomes when an individual with a disability does not have a return to work option and is forced into poverty, homelessness, addiction or potentially worse scenarios.

We congratulate the CIESS on their leadership.
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An event was held in Brussels on December 4, 2018 recognizing 60 individuals who successfully completed the educational program as well as those who successfully achieved the CDMP and CRTWC professional designations.

Events were held in late November 2018 in the UK to recognize individuals who were successful in achieving the CDMP designation.

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The newly selected Board of the Canadian Society of Professionals in Disability Management (CSPDM) held its first Board meeting in Toronto at the offices of the WSIB, under the leadership of CSPDM Board Chair, Evie DoCouto, WSIB Vice-President for Return-to-Work.

Recognized in the International Social Security Association’s Best Practice Guidelines on Return-to-Work as the gold standard in professional competence, CDMPs and CRTWCs now reflect a global professional community of over 4,000 individuals in 13 countries across all continents and expanding at a brisk pace with almost 700 across all Canadian provinces and territories.
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Videos are available for viewing on the IFDM 2018 website. They include opening and welcome videos by Master of Ceremonies Wayne Wouters; Federal Ministers Carla Qualtrough and Patricia Hajdu; Premier of BC John Horgan, and presentations by Yazmine Laroche, DM for Accessibility, Government of Canada; Dr Joachim Breuer, Director General, DGUV, Germany; Francois Perl, Director General, INAMI/RIZIV, Belgium; and the handover to Belgium for IFDM 2020.
To view videos, please click on the following link: Video Library

During the conclusion of IFDM 2018 held in Vancouver, Canada, October 15-17, attended by 400 delegates from 30 countries, organized by the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS), the handover took place to Brussels, site of the 10th International Biennial Congress on Disability Management and Return to Work – IFDM 2020 – to be hosted by the Belgium Federal Social Security Organization, INAMI. To view the bulletin with further details, please click on the following link: More information

Prior to the handover to Belgium, the Hon. Wayne G. Wouters, PC, OC, Chancellor of PCU-WHS and Master of Ceremonies for IFDM 2018, read the IFDM 2018 Canada Declaration, which sets out a series of challenges and opportunities for relevant stakeholders on a range of key initiatives which could be undertaken and contribute towards achieving much improved and sustained social and economic outcomes for disabled workers, employers, and our society at large. The Canada Declaration is available for downloading and viewing on the IFDM 2018 website at: www.ifdm2018.com

Over 80 Presentations were delivered by experts from 20 countries during the conference. These have been uploaded to the IFDM 2018 website. Please click on the tab marked Program on the website and click on the links provided in the titles of the Plenary presentations as well as of the Concurrent Workshop presentation titles.

To view the Gallery of Photos taken at IFDM 2018, please visit the IFDM 2018 website and click on the tab marked Gallery of Photos.

To view the Welcome videos from Federal Ministers Carla Qualtrough and Patty Hajdu and BC Premier John Horgan, please click on the tab marked Video Library on the website.

We are extremely pleased to advise that an agreement has been reached, and will be signed during the Opening Session of IFDM 2018, between the International Social Security Organization (ISSA) a UN affiliated, Geneva based organization, with over 330 members in more than 150 countries, and Canada’s National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR), effecting the legal transfer of IFDM associated intellectual property, currently held by NIDMAR to ISSA.
For further details, please see the attached Third Update

Keynote Address: Bill C-81, An Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada

We are pleased to confirm the participants for the IFDM Plenary Panel taking place Tuesday, October 16, at 8:45 am – 10:15 am in the Plenary entitled:

The Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) was most pleased to host the Honourable Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Federal Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence at its campus today. The Minister was very interested to learn more about the broader area of Return to Work / Disability Management, both in Canada and around the world. For further details, please see newsletter attached.

As a result of the visit, the Minister issued several tweets on his Twitter account, which can be viewed on the PCU-WHS Twitter account at: https://twitter.com/pcuwhs

PCU-WHS was fortunate to have been approved for the University to hire a summer student for 2018 under the Federal Government’s Canada Summer Jobs Program. We are most pleased to introduce Cassandra in this short release.

9th World Congress on Return to Work and Disability Management

Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) is pleased to host the International Forum on Disability Management – IFDM 2018 – taking place in Vancouver, Canada

We are excited to bring you personal welcome greetings from some of our distinguished leaders and supporters which can be found on the website at the following link and include the following:
https://www.ifdm2018.com/video-library/
– Hon. Kirsty Duncan, Federal Minister of Science, Sport and Persons with Disabilities on behalf of the Federal Government of Canada
– Hon. Scott Fraser, BC Minister for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation on behalf of the Province of BC (Minster Fraser’s riding is home of the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences)
– Dr. Joachim Breuer, President, International Social Security Association, Geneva, Switzerland
– Hon. Wayne G. Wouters, PC, OC, Founding Chancellor, Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences
– Mr. Ken Neumann, National Director, United Steelworkers and Labour Co-Chair, PCU-WHS
– Mr. Dean Winsor, Vice-President, HR, Teck Resources and Employer Co-Chair, PCU-WHS

IFDM 2018 will build on the history of innovation, leadership and best practice solutions through 78 stimulating workshop sessions and 3 plenary panel presentations with representatives from approx. 20 countries.

The three plenary panels on critical challenges include:
– The Disappearing Workplace: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers Compensation Systems, Chaired by Dr. Joachim Breuer, CEO, German Federal Workers Compensation System
– Disability and Proverty: Breaking the Cycle, Chaired by the Hon. Wayne G. Wouters, PC, OC, Chancellor, PCU-WHS
– Meeting the Challenge of Mental Health in Today’s Workplace, Chaired by Ms. Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister, Department of National Defence and PCU-WHS Deputy Minister Champion

An agreement signed between the Pilon School of Business at Sheridan College and Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) allows students who have completed the diploma program in Human Resources to transfer their credits from Sheridan towards the Bachelor of Disability Management at PCU-WHS.

The Bachelor of Disability Management is the first – and only – degree of this nature and level internationally. It provides graduates with the underpinning of knowledge, skills and competencies to assist absent workers to return to work and employing organizations to promote and protect the health of workers.

“In my opinion a significant piece of the future of human resources will involve disability management and return to work,” says Shady Hana, a Professor and HR Program Coordinator at Sheridan College. “This is especially true with aspects of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) coming into play within the next three to five years here in Ontario. The partnership with PCU-WHS provides a priceless opportunity for our students to learn about this growing field.”

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