Committed to Workers' Health in Upstate New York
Occupational Health Clinical Center
Recognizing and preventing occupational illness is more than just a medical/scientific endeavor. Workers themselves play an essential part, but can only do so if they are informed and have power to create change in the workplace. In this context, the role of the Occupational Health Clinical Center (OHCC) is to facilitate worker/patient empowerment. Since the OHCC's inception, nearly thirty years ago, much has changed politically and in the nature of work in the United States that requires an evolving approach to this role.
One key element in those changes has been the diminution of unionized, relatively well paying, secure manufacturing jobs and the ongoing growth of low wage, insecure, non-union work. These workers are 'vulnerable' in many ways, including at higher risk of occupational injury or illness, often without knowledge of resources they might utilize. Even if they are knowledgeable, barriers to their using resources often remain formidable. Effectively reaching this group is a central challenge.
Another key change has been the increasing recognition that the traditional occupational disease paradigm of an exposure leading to a specific disease does not adequately capture the complexity of how work impacts health. Putting this conception into practice is another central challenge.