At University of Iowa Health Care, Occupational Health (also know as Occupational Medicine) undertakes some unique responsibilities. While they officially provide workers’ health services for both employees of UI Health Care as well as surrounding employers throughout the Corridor, this can look very different from day to day, or even patient to patient.
Occupational Health celebrates change
The department has had a recent opportunity to take both a look back and a look to the future with the recent decision of Patrick Hartley, MB, BCh, BAO, MPH, to step down from his role as clinical director. Hartley served in this role for more than 14 years and has been foundational in Occupational Health’s development. He has also served as head of the Medical Board for the Municipal Fire & Police Retirement System of Iowa (MFPRSI) and as Medical Director of the Occupational Medicine Specialty Clinic.
Occupational Health’s projects generally aim to make the workplace a healthier and safer place for employees, which the newly appointed Clinical Director of Occupational Health, Christopher Iverson, MD, MBA, MPH, says is the guiding principle behind the department.
“Occupational Medicine is a preventive medicine specialty that focuses on the relationships among the health of workers: the physical, chemical, and social environments in the workplace, and the health effects of environmental exposures,” Iverson said. “If we can reduce workplace exposure risks, not only can we treat our current patient’s injury or illness, but we may also be able to prevent future instances of occupational injury or illness from occurring in others.”
Iverson credits the strong foundation established by Hartley, along with the influence of its initial director Henri Cuddihy, MD. Each has helped Occupational Medicine to grow and flourish. Although UI Occupational Health (UIOH) currently serves as the sole dedicated Occupational Health clinic throughout Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and Tiffin, a second clinic was added last year with the addition of the Downtown campus. Via this additional clinic, Occupational Medicine providers are now able to offer dedicated occupational health services to an even wider group of new employers and employees throughout the eastern Iowa City area.
Cross-specialty projects keep things interesting
Occupational Health visits can cover anything from physicals, firefighter exams, hearing testing, work injury treatment, and immunizations, to specialty examinations like FAA Flight Medical Exams. In such a diversified environment, providers need to be both flexible and creative; something Claudia Corwin, MD, MPH, knows firsthand from a recent project exploring the needs of lower wage workers at UI Health Care to understand what they know about their health care system and how to utilize their health care benefits.
“It is both a research project and a peer-to-peer coaching intervention, funded by the UI College of Public Health,” Corwin said. “Many of these workers are new to the US and UIHC and don’t access their health benefits, and I am hoping this pilot project will help workers understand and access an important benefit they receive by working at the University of Iowa. Ultimately, a healthy workforce is a more sustainable workforce. The COVID pandemic showed us how this plays out in real time.”
Corwin also shared that her work in Occupational Health allows her to do programmatic work and research with working populations that may not have ideal access to occupational medicine or health care in general, including migrant farm workers in Iowa. Much of this work has been in collaboration with Proteus Inc., a mobile Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), but also with faculty and staff in a wide range of roles, including anthropologists, epidemiologists, and environmental service professionals.
Memories and next steps for department staff
Ultimately, this contributes to the success of both Corwin and Iverson’s favorite part of their work: their patients. “Since my practice of Occupational Medicine began, the question ‘What do you do for work?’ has taken on such a new meaning,” Iverson said. “Rather than this question being just a way to make small talk, it instead provides me with such a unique lens into my patients as a person. Work is such a large part of our lives, whether it be the number of hours we spend performing it or, for others, a huge part of our identity. I love learning my patient’s stories, how they ended up performing the work that they do, as well as some of the ‘tricks of the trade’ for occupations I never even knew existed!”
Iverson says UIOH is always looking for new ways to grow, including personally touring workplaces in a “boots on the ground” approach. He says trying to understand a patient’s work in this way can help Occupational Health specialists more effectively navigate modified work duties and give suggestions for reducing workplace exposure risks, especially as their services and locations expand.
Iverson would also like to acknowledge a few key partners in the department’s work. “A huge thanks to the Department of Internal Medicine, the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, and the University of Iowa Community Clinics. Occupational Medicine is itself a unique field of medicine that doesn’t always “fit” neatly among other specialties – however, the administrative support for the valuable work we do is so appreciated.
“Lastly, I’d like to offer sincere appreciation to Dr. Patrick Hartley for his 14+ years as Clinical Director of UI Occupational Health, in addition to many more years (I won’t say how many!) practicing both Pulmonary and Occupational Medicine. Dr. Hartley has not only been a tremendous mentor to me, but also a fierce advocate for our occupational health patient population and for improvement in worker’s health.”
