Workers' rehab center reactivated

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

THE Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) has reactivated its workers’ rehabilitation center (WRC) “to enhance the quality of life of workers with disabilities as well as restore them to their highest level of functioning.”

ECC executive director Evelyn Tablang said the WRC is envisioned to be a rehabilitation facility that will cater to workers who have incurred work-related contingencies and shall provide for services essential to the rehabilitation program, thereby facilitating their full integration into the economic mainstream.

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“These services shall be of such quality and so applied that they constitute an effective program which achieves the rehabilitation objectives for occupationally-disabled workers (ODWs),” she explained, adding that the well-being of injured workers and their return to productive employment is the ECC’s guiding principle for the reactivation.

The center aims to enhance the quality of life of workers with disabilities and shall be accomplished through the provision of rehabilitation services to arrest the deterioration of function.

“WRC has been designed and organized to provide a wide range of care for ODWs requiring interdisciplinary rehabilitation, medical care and coordination of the emotional care and cognitive aspects.”

Tablang added aside from facilitating an early return to work of the ODW, the WRC shall likewise ensure that the costs associated with disability like health care payments and treatment costs are minimized with the provision of free rehabilitation services including assistive devices to those qualified.

“The center will also provide reassurance, encouragement and counseling to enable the ODW to maintain a positive outlook and remain motivated toward future economic and social capability as well as assist in improving the employment prospects of the ODWs by facilitating their enrolment in entrepreneurial and skills or vocational training courses for re-employment or self-employment,” she said.

Integrating ODWs into the economic mainstream through physical restoration and skills training remains a high priority among the welfare concerns of the ECC, the director said in a statement.

“The reactivation of the WRC will enhance the Commission’s existing rehabilitation structure toward a more responsive and sound rehabilitation mechanism for ODWs and is a step toward strengthening the rehabilitation component of the Employees Compensation Program.”

Both the Constitution and the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons underscore the importance of rehabilitation, self-development, self-reliance and integration into the mainstream of society of persons with disabilities.

The Constitution in particular calls for the prioritization of the needs of persons with disabilities through the adoption of an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development and the provision of social services at affordable cost. (CGC)