SIH presents symposium on workers' compensation
MARION - Nearly 200 regional human resources directors and personnel, industrial and retail managers, mine managers and operators and municipal leaders attended the 2018 Workers' Compensation Symposium sponsored by SIH on Thursday in the Diamond Club at Rend One Park.
Shawn Berry, an Illinois workers' compensation defense attorney, law professor and mediator, gave the keynote "state of the state" address including an overview of several relevant recent cases and legislative updates.
The symposium also included a mock workers' compensation trial and sessions on investigations and how to handle arbitration.
Verlinda Henshaw, executive director of rehabilitation services at SIH, discussed the history of workers' compensation care at SIH and expansion plans for SIH WORKcare.ready.well programs. After lunch and the keynote speech, a panel of SIH providers answered participants' questions.
'We partner with SIH and this is our third year coming to this symposium," said Melissa Trammel, a representative of Wildcat Hills mining complex in Saline County. "They always cover very interesting work-related topics. We take a lot of information from here and use it in our work policies."
WORKcare. ready.well are three SIH businesses designed to combine the occupational health, rehabilitation and wellness programs that serve regional companies and their employees into a central store for those services.
They include injury prevention and other preventive programs, health and wellness programs, ergonomic analyses, injury navigation management, and treatment and rehabilitation of injured workers.
"This is the third year for this symposium," said Dena Kirk, administrative director of SIH occupational medicine and rehabilitation services. "This year we wanted to update employers on the latest and best practices in workman's compensation, of course, but these symposiums also offer a great opportunity for networking, sharing stories and comparing procedures and practices.
"The symposium also aligns with our mission of helping improve the health and wellness of all of the people I the communities we serve."
Some of the businesses in attendance were Aisin, the city of Benton, Jackson County Mass Transit, Night Hawk Coal of Perry County, Wildcat Hills Peabody mines in Saline County.