The right turn in a mid-life change of course
In August 2004, Mike Toney suffered an on-the-job injury affecting his neck and shoulder. His doctor told him he couldn't go back to his old job; it was time to look for something else.
"Auto body work is hard," he says. "It takes a toll on you."
On the day of his injury, Toney had been working inside a car, his body twisted in an awkward position for several hours. He didn't realize how it was hurting his neck until the end of the day.
"I had injured myself 10 years earlier," he says, "and that injury required a fusion in my neck. Now my neck and shoulder just won't take the strain."
When the doctor said I couldn't go back," Toney says, "my first thought was, â##What am I going to do now?' I had been pretty plugged into auto body, so it was quite a blow."
"When someone has to start over again after working that many years in one occupation, it is difficult," says Debbie Pearce, a SAIF vocational coordinator. "Career counselors talk with injured workers about the grief process, but they only have 90 days to write a vocational assistance plan, and that isn't much time for someone to decide on a new career for the rest of his or her life."
"I kept having doubts," says Toney. "Is this the right choice for a new career? Every day you are asking yourself if you are doing the right thing. It's overwhelming. They gave me a book of jobs, and I had very little time to narrow it down to what I could do. I finally narrowed it down to five possible careers."
Although a career like auto service estimator would have allowed Toney to stay in the automotive industry, it didn't feel right to him. He rejected it, and bookkeeping, too.
"I like to work with my hands," he says. "I really liked working on auto bodies."
It hadn't been his first choice, but Toney wanted to continue working with his hands and finally settled on training to be a denture lab technician.
"I would be able to stay in Eugene," he says, "which was important. I didn't want to move. I didn't know how secure I would be starting all over again; it was a challenge, but I was up for that. I had great people around me. I was able to stay positive. SAIF provided a lot of support, and no one ever told me that I couldn't succeed."
"This is the most satisfying part of my job," says Pearce. "When injured workers like Mike Toney get through that initial fear or concern about the future, complete their training, and return to work at a job they enjoy, that is success."
Toney completed a 12-month training program at the Oregon Institute of Dental Technology, which is affiliated with Denture Masters Laboratory, where he now works. On June 15, 2007, he went to work as a denture lab technician at nearly the same salary he had been earning before he was injured.
"It was the right decision," he says. "Working in the denture lab is a lot like working on auto bodies, only auto work is large scale and this is small scale. I am still creating something, still working with my hands." "I don't know what we'd do without him now," says Candace Cooper, lab technician and trainer at Denture Masters. "He's great."
Toney was happy to find a new job that enabled him to use his creativity and his hands. "I do miss some things about the auto body work," says Toney, "but I don't miss the pain and injuries. I always look forward; I never look back. I'm very comfortable where I'm at.
A number of people and resources are used whenever a worker needs to change careers because of an injury. Some of the tools and activities used include:
An interest inventory
First, workers are asked to think about what kinds of things they like to do. Do they prefer working with data or do they prefer working with people? Or, would they rather spend their time working on objects? These questions are important to answer when planning a major change in their occupation.
Aptitude and skills assessment
Workers are tested to see where their strengths lie. Sometimes an on-the-job evaluation is used to ensure the worker has the aptitude to succeed. Community college academic placement testing If enrolling in an academic program, workers may need to fulfill some prerequisites. Placement testing shows if they need to take such courses as reading, writing, or math to prepare for more rigorous training, and whether they can complete the training within the timelines outlined in the workers' compensation vocational rules.
Study the market
Vocational counselors usually provide Oregon Labor Market and Oregon Wage Information data to help injured workers find new careers for which there is a demand, as well as jobs that pay close to the salary they earned before they were injured. Again, it is important that the training necessary can be completed in the time allowed under the workers' compensation vocational rules.