Few organizations are fortunate enough to get to see their hard work change lives. But that is what Baptist Children’s Homes (BCH) of North Carolina does every day.
Founded in 1885 as a children’s orphanage in Thomasville, N.C., BCH has since evolved to care for individuals at all stages of life, from infancy to adulthood. Its vision “to provide the highest quality Christian services to children, adults and families in a caring culture of measurable excellence” led to the formation of group homes for intellectually and developmentally disabled adults. The organization also provides services for aging adults, single mothers, college students and orphans abroad.
But caring for boys and girls in need remains BCH’s primary mission.
The safety of employees and the individuals they serve is paramount at BCH, with more than 330 employees and 23 facilities across the Tar Heel State. Accordingly, BCH’s workers’ compensation risk management journey has been one of collaboration and excellence, which is why this organization is one of three winners of the 2020 Excellence in Workers’ Compensation Risk Management Award.
BHC’s success is evidenced by reduced frequency and severity of workplace accidents since 2017. That accomplishment is exemplified by BCH’s workers’ compensation experience modification rate for the upcoming policy year, which is 28% lower than three years ago. In 2019, BCH also received its first Silver Award from the North Carolina Department of Labor’s Safety Awards program. The program recognizes private and public firms that achieve and maintain the highest-quality safety records.
To truly understand where BCH faces the most risk, however, it’s essential to understand its core mission.
‘Changing Lives’
Children from all over the state arrive at BCH for several reasons. Perhaps they are victims of abuse, are in the care of an adult struggling with addiction or face other circumstances that threaten to tear their families apart.
Driven by their mission of “Sharing hope… Changing lives,” BCH provides a family environment for children to thrive. For example, cottage home care enlists professionally trained staff to care for children under one roof. And the organization’s foster care program allows a family to care for a child or children within their own home.
There are inherent workers’ compensation risks related to living with and caring for children 24/7, 365 days a year. “One of the top requirements [for employees] is to be active and engage in ‘normal life’ activities with the kids,” says John Adamcik, human resources director at BCH. “In the wintertime, they go sledding; they run around and play games; they ride bikes and play catch. So now and then, we will have someone twist an ankle playing basketball, for example.”
High physical activity can be exhausting for both the body and mind. Therefore, Adamcik is keenly aware of the possibility of employee fatigue.
“We have cottages for residential childcare that are licensed for up to 12 children, and we have house couples (a husband and wife), who rotate two weeks on-duty and two weeks off-duty. We want to make sure people are rested when they return to work,” Adamcik says.
Another risk BCH employees face is secondary trauma as a result of working with children who have been severely victimized. Adamcik describes this exposure as comparable to what health care and emergency services professionals experience after witnessing extreme violence or suffering. Although this type of on-the-job stress does not fall under the traditional definitions of workers’ compensation, it’s an emotional distraction that could make employees more susceptible to common workplace injuries such as slip-and-fall accidents.
To teach employees how to identify and respond to different child behaviors, BCH uses CARE, a trauma-informed model from Cornell University that helps childcare agencies improve services for children in out-of-home care, as well as therapeutic crisis intervention (TCI) and Mental Health First-Aid training.
One of the other vital workers’ comp issues facing BCH is auto risks. “Driving safety is very key for workers’ compensation,” says Adamcik. “Our kids have doctor appointments, family visits and school appointments, and there’s just a lot of driving that we do.”
Go Team, Go!
When speaking of BCH’s risk management story, Adamcik emphasizes how their standards were collaboratively crafted with excellence in mind. Perhaps no other area of the business illustrates such teamwork as much as the Risk Performance Team.
About three years ago, Sam Barefoot, senior vice president of properties and insurance at BCH; Jim H. Simpson, Jr., a consultant from Professional Service Group; and Jacob Dahlin and Steve Heston from brokerage Scott Insurance formed the Risk Performance Team to address the insurance and risk challenges at BCH. The team, along with BCH senior leadership, has focused on formulating plans to improve various areas of risk, such as medication administration and fleet management.
Additionally, Adamcik actively communicates with Phil Gresens, a senior loss control consultant at workers’ comp carrier United Heartland. “Working closely with our workers’ compensation insurance carrier, we have conducted numerous site safety visits, reviewed protocols and employee training, evaluated claim trends and unusual claim situations, and have worked with our supervisors and staff to ensure we are all aware of our roles in the safety program,” Adamcik says.
Collaboration is not exclusive to the decision-makers. Adamcik makes it a priority to communicate the workers’ comp process from the top-down.
“When we have somebody who has reported an injury and is in obvious need of medical attention, we want to make sure they receive prompt, appropriate care,” he says. “That means making sure our employees understand the process, because a lot of people may never have filed a workers’ comp claim before and may be hesitant to do so.”
Educating employees about how a workers’ comp claim is processed also can prevent severe financial consequences. “If the employee didn’t tell the hospital their injury is workers’ comp-related, or if the person taking the information at the hospital didn’t understand the situation, the employee could be billed for services. We try to avoid that by telling employees to let
us know about an injury. Then we provide them with a piece of paper from United Heartland that says we authorized treatment, and another piece of paper to take to the pharmacy, so the employee is not out of pocket for the weekend.”
In the event a claim is not progressing as it should, Adamcik will contact the injured employee, their supervisor, BCH’s claim handler, and their broker representative. “In certain cases, I may suggest actions to our supervisors, such as exploring alternate work within an employee’s restrictions,” he says. “Or I may suggest to our carrier that they assign a nurse case manager to help the injured employee navigate their care. If an injured employee expresses concerns about their claim, I can reassure them. If needed, clarify their rights under the North Carolina Workers’ Comp Act, such as explaining the role of N.C. Industrial Commission’s Information Specialists, who can help injured workers who are not represented by an attorney.”
In the end, the goal for Adamcik and BCH’s leadership is to help the injured employee recover quickly and ensure that individual is supported through all stages of the workers’ comp claim process.
Sign of the Times
This spring, BCH became one of United Heartland’s first clients to use TeleCompCare, the carrier’s new telemedicine program. Within the first two weeks of launching it, four employees used the service, much to Adamcik’s surprise. “I thought we’d have maybe a couple of uses a year,” he said.
The service was especially useful when an employee suffered a leg injury while playing basketball with the kids under BCH’s care. BCH was quickly able to triage the situation and arrange an MRI for the employee.
Despite the ease and convenience of telehealth, Adamcik had a few hesitations. “I report every workers’ comp claim. I want to know what’s going on, and now, all of a sudden, we’ve opened the door for indirect reporting,” he says.
“I was concerned that maybe I might fall out of the loop, but so far it’s been good,” he continues. “We now have an improved means of ensuring we provide injured workers in non-emergency situations with prompt, expert evaluation and, if needed, treatment.”