Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Higdon.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I have been a licensed occupational therapist for over 30 years. Prior to starting WorkSite CARE Clinic, my job as a staff therapist was to perform new hire physicals, rehabilitation, and return to work testing. However, my true passion is injury prevention. When my employer re-structured in 1999 phasing out the on-site injury prevention programs I developed and created, clients insisted these continue. They said they would pay me directly to do them, thus the start of my entrepreneurial journey.
In January 2001, WorkSite Consultants (now WorkSite CARE Clinic) was born quickly with 4 initial clients for on-site training and testing, followed in February with the opening of our first clinic. Clients continued to request we add services such as drug screens, DOT physicals, ergonomics, and work hardening. We hired experienced staff as we expanded service offerings. We steadily attracted new clients and moved twice, each time needing more space to accommodate additional services and volume.
Recently, the decision was made to say yes to our client’s requests to treat their employee’s acute work injuries. This was the one service gap we had in our continuum of care, and we knew it was time to fill it. Prior, we provided pre-employment and post-offer testing, physical capabilities testing, ergonomics, on-site training, and work rehabilitation. Now, we can also care for employees if they get hurt on the job. As part of this decision, we felt a company name change and re-branding was needed to identify us as an occupational testing and injury care clinic. WorkSite Consultants is now doing business as WorkSite CARE Clinic and has a full scope of occupational and industrial service offerings.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Owning your own business always presents a series of challenges, each one unique. Through these experiences are opportunities to learn. It seems the most memorable and impactful growth happens in difficult moments. As the owner, there are nights when sleep is elusive, filled with personal and professional struggles. Your job is to consistently be calm, positive, supportive and remain goal focused. Your business, your employees, your clients, deserve your best every day. You committed that to them the moment you decided to start a business. Your stress can never be theirs.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
When we say, “We test people and make sure they can do the work you need them to do”, the reply is usually “I didn’t know that was a thing.” Not only is it a thing, it’s what we do best! Our licensed professional staff have been to industrial sites and seen the work being done by employees. We’ve weighed products, taken force readings, crawled under work pumps, been in spray towers, and have talked to and trained thousands of manufacturing, transportation, construction, warehouse, packaging, and distribution workers. Not only do we know their jobs, we also know them as people.
This familiarity with our customers’ work environments and jobs creates trust and helps us make accurate and valid work determinations for new hire candidates and for employees returning to work after an injury. When indicated, on-site visits include ergonomic studies resulting in mitigation or elimination of musculoskeletal hazards. Through our presence in various work areas, we create injury prevention/wellness trainings that are relevant, targeted and specific to identified employee issues and actual work performed.
WorkSite CARE Clinic has a long track record of achieving worker’s compensation cost reductions ranging from 12% – 35% depending upon company industry and the services being utilized. We always work in partnership with clients and customize services to successfully achieve their goals. With us, you can expect direct, honest, straight-talk, and personalized care. To us, you are a name, a person, and someone who chose us. We don’t take that for granted. We know people always have choices and we want to be the one picked. WorkSite CARE Clinic has the word care in it for a reason. At the end of the day, it’s our customers who tell us it feels different when they are here getting a DOT physical, doing a respirator fit test, or any other service with us. It’s the company’s HR Manager, Safety Director, or Occupational Health Nurse who thanks us for making their job easier. They are the ones saying we care. They’re right. We do.
What are your plans for the future?
Now, not only do we provide job testing, drug screening, physicals, return to work testing, and risk assessments, we now provide care to keep employees working or get them back to work ASAP. Our on-going plan is to promote this new acute work injury care to our existing clients and continue to introduce WorkSite CARE Clinic to new customers, so that we can positively impact the health and safety of industrial employees in Memphis and throughout the Mid-South.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://worksiteconsultants.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorksiteCAREClinic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/worksite-care-clinic/
