Providence St. Luke’s Occupational Rehabilitation
Providence St. Luke’s Occupational Rehabilitation
At Providence St. Luke’s Occupational Rehabilitation, we are dedicated to helping injured workers return to work quickly and safely. Our physical, occupational and rehabilitation therapists help patients get back on their feet with work hardening and work conditioning programs. They also consult on ergonomic and adaptive changes so patients can be their most productive at work and in daily activities.
As we help injured workers heal, we also focus on their emotional and mental well-being. A work injury can affect all aspects of a patient’s life, and we offer compassionate care as they move forward.
Occupational Rehabilitation is one of the longest standing programs of its kind in the community and part of Providence St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Medical Center. The medical center is fully accredited by the Joint Commission and CARF International and undergoes rigorous reviews to maintain the highest level of compliance.
For patients driving to our clinic, we have ample, accessible parking, plus ramps and elevator access for wheelchairs. Please park in the large lot south of Providence St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Medical Center. Enter at the main entrance to the Outpatient Health Center (formerly called the medical office building).
You can also get to our clinic on a Spokane Transit Authority bus route. Take the No. 12 bus and get off at Cowley Street and Hartson Avenue, stop No. 1038.
Workers injured on the job can have impaired motor, sensory or cognitive skills. These injuries can keep them from work and daily activities. Some of our patients come to us right after they’ve been injured or after a condition has worsened over time.
Conditions we treat include:
- Persistent pain
- Neck and back conditions
- Repetitive motion injuries
- Fractures and breaks
- Muscoskeletal injuries
- Hand injuries and conditions
At St. Luke’s, we are dedicated to helping patients heal so they can get back to work and daily life. Our physical, occupational and rehabilitation therapists are highly trained and hold specialized certifications to help workers recover from a range of injuries.
We create personalized treatment plans for patients, work with them one-on-one and coordinate care with doctors in Occupational Medicine.
Our services include:
Our rehabilitation team uses functional capacity exams (FCEs) to determine whether a patient can safely perform work and daily activities after an injury.
We evaluate a patient’s physical performance and their ability to handle the cognitive demands of a job. Our rehabilitation therapists may recommend making changes to a patient’s workspace, tasks, or equipment, or moving to another job that the patient can perform safely.
Functional capacity evaluations can help patients who have been injured on the job and others who are:
- Seeking to return to work or activities following illness or injury unrelated to work
- Recovering from a catastrophic accident
- Seeking vocational rehabilitation services
- Receiving services to move from school to the workforce
- Applying for Social Security Disability benefits
Our Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP) is a 10-week, evidence-based treatment program designed to help patients overcome psychological factors contributing to their disability. This program can help patients who are struggling with depression and other conditions that are preventing them from resuming daily activities and returning to work.
Patients in this program work one-on-one with a rehabilitation therapist to develop a structured activity schedule and find ways to motivate themselves to reach their goals.
In our work hardening program, rehabilitation therapists work with injured patients daily, starting with four-hour sessions, to improve their physical condition and job performance. Patients work with equipment similar to what they use at work, and therapists incrementally add hours until patients can perform tasks equivalent to an eight-hour workday.
Work hardening can help patients:
- Increase their core strength and endurance
- Return to work faster
- Improve their job performance
- Reduce pain
- Reduce their risk of getting injured again