2019

NIDMAR Celebrates 25 Years

An event was held in Vancouver on December 2 to recognize and celebrate NIDMAR’s 25 Years of developing and implementing professional and program standards in the field of Disability Management and Return to Work.

Speaking at the event were the Honourable Shane Simpson, BC’s Minister for Social Development and Poverty Reduction; MP for Courtenay-Alberni, Gord Johns; international guests from Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom; and founding and current NIDMAR Co-Chairs. A presentation was also made on the Enhanced Disability Management Program (EDMP) re the joint collaboration between the unions and the employers across the health care sector in BC.

For further information regarding the event and the various initiatives that NIDMAR has successfully undertaken over the last 25 years, please see details in the bulletin attached – highlights are:

– Establishment of the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS), a statutory, not-for-profit, post secondary, degree granting University focused in the areas of health and safety, health promotion, disability management and return to work, and rehabilitation.

– Development, validation, and promotion of Occupational Standards in Disability Management, and the associated professional certification examinations, now adopted in 64 countries and referenced in the ISSA global best practice guidelines on Return to Work and Reintegration

– Developed, tested and validated a three-level consensus-based Disability Management / Return to Work program assessment protocol – the basis for which was used to create the EDMP in the health care sector in BC.

– Creation of the biennial international congress – the International Forum on Disability Management – NIDMAR hosted the first IFDM in 2002, and brought it back to Vancouver in 2018 hosted by PCU-WHS following successful IFDMs hosted around the world in the intervening years.

To view the Gallery of Photos, click on the following link: Gallery of Photos

For further information, please contact:
Email: nidmar@nidmar.ca

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CDMP and CRTWC Certificates Awarded in Canada

Two events were recently held in Canada – one in British Columbia and one in Ontario – for the presentation of CDMP and CRTWC certificates, and 10-year pins to those who have maintained their professional designations for 10 years.

The Honourable Harry Bains, BC’s Minister of Labour, attended the event in Burnaby, BC and said of the event, “It was wonderful to be a part of a celebration for graduates of the Certified Disability Management Professional (CDMP) certificate program at the BC Nurses’ Union. BC’s professional network to support injured workers to return to work just got a little bigger.”

A second event was held in Toronto during the Conference hosted by the Canadian Society of Professionals in Disability Management (CSPDM) when the CDMP and CRTWC certificates and 10-Year Pins were presented by IDMSC Co-Chair Prof. Dr. Joachim Breuer and Chair of the CSPDM Evie DoCouto who is Vice President, Return-to-Work Program at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario.

Prof. Dr. Joachim Breuer said of the event, “There’s no successful inclusion of sick or injured people without a return to work philosophy; there’s no successful return to work without highly qualified experts who guide the process; and there would be no experts of such kind without the worldwide accepted certification for disability managers and return to work coordinators from NIDMAR.”

Please see the attached Communiqué for quotes from the main speakers at the events along with photos. More Information

Scottish Government Hosts Event Awarding of Certificates

An Awards event was held September 23 at the Dunfermline Carnegie Conference Centre in the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland, to recognise 24 individuals who successfully completed the NIDMAR training program and the 29 individuals who successfully passed the CDMP examination, gaining their CDMP designation. For further details, please click on the following link to read the IDMSC Communiqué.

Scottish Government Funds Training for 300 CDMPs Over Five Years

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.

Revitalizing injured workers via certification

In an article written by Datuk Dr. Norma Mansor, emeritus professor and director, Social Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Malaya, she identifies that employment injuries and work related illnesses fall under the jurisdiction of the Social Security Organization (SOCSO), which adopted a case management strategy whereby every injured worker is assigned a case manager who will facilitate the intervention using a bio-psychosocial and multidisciplinary approach called the Return to Work program.

To provide quality services to its members, SOCSO’s Return to Work case managers and employees dealing with Return to Work program-related matters are required to have professional certification in disability management practice: Certified Disability Management Professional (CDMP) and Certified Return to Work Coordinator (CRTWC).

SOCSO appointed the Social Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Malaya to create and become the Test Agency to manage and administer the CDMP and CRTWC examinations.

Following translation and ensuring Malaysian legislative content, the CDMP examination was offered in 2017 and 2018 to SOCSO employees and will be open to all in 2019.

Dr. Mansor identifies that the structured intervention of case manager has contributed to the success of the program and the resulting impact on the nation’s economy, but more importantly, it is the impact on the individuals who are now able to get back into employment. She writes, “They are now able to earn and become an active member of society which contributes to their self-worth and dignity.”

To read the full article, please click on the following link:
Malaysia Article by Dr Norma Mansor May 2019

Agreement signed in Malaysia on disability management with focus on return to work

SOCSO Malaysia, the federal Social Security Organization, has signed an Agreement with the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), Malaysia’s most advanced container terminal – a leading corporate organization, on disability management through the Return to Work and Back Injury Protection and Rehabilitation program.

Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohammed Azman Bin Dato’ Aziz Mohammed, SOCSO Chief Executive, said “This will bring positive impact to PTP employees, as well as be a catalyst for other organizations to take the same path in making disability management a cultural practice and part of human resources.”

PTP CEO Marco Neelsen said, “In PTP, we actively promote occupational safety policies, conduct safety and health campaigns to reduce accidents, as well as implement an employee wellness program to prevent mishaps to our workers and contractors.”

To read the full article, please click on the following link:
Malaysia Article re SOCSO Signing May 2019

Interviews Available for Viewing in the Video Library

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:

Video Library

MOU Signed with CIESS for Promotion of Disability Management to its Members

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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New Board of Directors of CSPDM Holds First Meeting

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.
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