Meet the Rehabilitation Suppport Worker

Meet the Rehabilitation Support Worker. Yep, that’s me.

It starts with an accident, often traumatic, at a workplace or in a vehicle. WSIB or lawyers get involved, and they call the Occupational Therapy companies. The OTs, in turn, call the Rehabilitation Support Workers companies, and guess who they call. Yep, me!

My assignments usually involve me working under the direction and training of OT’s to implement treatment goals for these injured individuals. Since rehab is the aim rather than simply supporting someone by providing direct, personal care, RSWs are often referred to as Rehabilitation Therapists. Indeed, such work often involves me merging into specialty fields, such as serving as a job coach or running physio classes at Seniors’ day programs.

Other times, I might have to don a Personal Support Worker hat. When does this occur? Imagine that I am called upon to enter an LTC (long-term care) facility to assist one of my clients with his daily kinesiology stretches. On one particular morning that I am about to start, as I hover above the client’s bed looking down on him, I notice that he has soiled himself. I then leave the room to find the PSW on duty for my client’s ward. After playing what appears to be whack-a-mole rooms (‘No, she is in room 312!’ or, ‘You just missed her, she is in room 314!), I finally locate her. Ming and I then return to my client’s room, and she agrees to change him right away.

As I observe Ming preparing wipes, towels, soap, and a wash basin, I reflect on a RSW coworker reminding me that I am prohibited from assisting because I am not trained as a PSW and there might be legal and liability ramifications should something go wrong. After contemplating giving Ming an ‘I’ll be outside, call me when you’re done’, I stall. How in good conscience can a 200-plus-pound Black man leave a tiny 130-pound Asian lady to wash and change another 200-plus-pound Black man, all by herself?!

I can’t! So I stay and help. I roll my client from side to side as Ming wipes him, and restrain his arms as, for some inexplicable reason (this may be for another blog), he struggles and mounts a defense at the prospect of getting clean. Once the battle is completed and my client is clean, Ming gives me a ‘Thank You!’ Not a ‘Thank You!’ I appreciate your help', but a ‘Oh God!, Thank you! You just saved my life and my back from another trip to the Chiropractor!’

Don’t get me wrong, the purpose of the tale is not simply me mining for admiration points. It’s to call into question specialized healthcare providers' roles and question whether rigid adherence to them always yields optimal healthcare outcomes. OTs, RNs, PTs, RSWs, PSWs..? Do we really need a title to care for a person? Training, yes; experience, definitely! But a title?!

I preach about society needing to reappraise frontline healthcare workers and see them as vital to a successful healthcare system. I discuss offering competitive wages and incentives as rewards. Perhaps we should also rethink how we train them as we call upon them to don so many important hats. Perhaps we should also train Support Workers to be OTs, RNs, PTs, and so on. No doubt this would lend to a regulated push to the field that is already occurring, and which may be the only meaningful way of guaranteeing improvements.