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SUMMER 2001 Volume 2, Issue 3 IN
THIS ISSUE Come to our 2nd Annual Open House! M ending the Holes in Your Workers’ Compensation Safety Net is the theme of our 2nd Annual Open House scheduled for October 11th, 2001. The festivities will be highlighted by a mini-seminar focusing on ways to minimize costs and exposure while maximizing productivity and control in the Workers Compensation environment. Presentations will be made covering good hiring practices, risk management & cost containment, return to work strategies, light-duty programs, drug screening, and more...The seminar will start at 2:00 p.m. and will run approximately 90 minutes, with the actual open house going from 3:30 p.m. till around 6:00 p.m. Representatives from Pinnacol Assurance, Stapleton Physical Therapy, St. Joseph Hospital, Xpect First Aid, and Alcohol & Drug Testing Services will be on hand throughout to answer your questions. Our staff will be here to visit with you as well, and the clinic will be open to tour if you haven’t had the opportunity already. The event will be catered with a wonderful assortment of food and beverages for all, and we plan to have some exciting door prizes again as well. Space may be limited for the seminar, so look for your invitation in the mail soon. If you have additional questions, please call Tony Baker at 303-333-4411.☻
Department of Transportation Update Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, you should be aware of the changes recently implemented by the Department of Transportation regarding regulated Drug Screens and Physicals. The most notable changes are in the forms, and procedures concerning paperwork. Originally, DOT had given a deadline of September 15, 2001 for the new drug screen chain of custody’s and then moved the date up to August 1, 2001. This, of course, caused considerable confusion and headaches because the labs couldn’t get the forms from the printers in time. In fact, we are still waiting for new chains from a few labs. DOT has authorized the use of "Affidavits" to accompany each specimen sent in with "old" chains until the printers get caught up. Our staff will continue to use the affidavits until we get the new chains. If you are still seeing "old" chains coming through, please give us a call to ensure we have new ones on order for you. The new forms and cards for DOT physicals have an implementation date of November 6, 2001. Rest assured we have PLENTY in stock already, in case DOT decides to move the date up as they did with the drug screens. We will, however, continue to use the old forms until the deadline date or whenever we run out of them, whichever comes first.☻
Oh Boy! This has been an extremely busy summer for the folks in our clinic, with lots of new and exciting changes in our personal and business lives. Most notably, long time team member Shelly Turmenne celebrated her 11th anniversary with our clinic and had a beautiful baby girl! She and husband Mark are busy enjoying their new bundle of joy Ashlyn Nicole (their first), with Shelly planning on returning to the clinic on a part-time basis in early October. Other exciting news includes the addition of two new team members, Anna Paiz (medical assistant) and Vanessa Ortega (billing assistant). Both ladies have great medical backgrounds with considerable experience in Occupational Medicine. Please help us in welcoming them, we are pleased to have them both on board. Although it has been somewhat of a rarity over the years at our clinic, we too must occasionally allow our friends to spread their wings and grow. Billing assistant Janine Ziegler and medical assistant Quiona McConico left our clinic this past quarter to pursue other opportunities in medicine. Janine is still working in the Denver area, but Quiona has relocated to Atlanta to be closer to family. We wish them nothing but the best in their new endeavors!☻
Hablamos Espanol (mas dias que no) Being an employer in Denver, especially in the current economic environment, has certainly put a premium on English speaking labor. Many of our clients have found considerable relief in hiring non-English speakers to help fill the void. Though we do see folks from the far reaches of the earth from time to time (Czech Republic, Vietnam, Poland, Kenya) the predominant non-English language we encounter is Spanish. For those of you who are Spanish language impaired, allow us to translate the heading to this column. It says: "We Speak Spanish (more days than not)". All kidding aside, we are fortunate to have to two truly bilingual staff members (Letti Ware and Dr. Hector Brignoni). Additionally, four of our other team members recently attended a class in Medical Spanish at Colorado Free University. It was a great experience for all and we gained several new tools (like our unfortunate friend on the left), many of which we are already using in the office. Also, a great resource for those of you who have internet access is: www.freetranslation.com. This site allows you to input words, phrases or entire paragraphs to be translated to the language of your choice. This can be especially useful when putting together employee handbooks, memos, signs, etc... We’ve used it to create patient information sheets and health histories, and even sometimes to decipher patient explanations of how their injuries occur. While it doesn’t offer the same luxuries as having a bilingual staff member, it sure beats paying a translation service...☻
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