Catawba Valley Medical Center’s Occupational Health Center

Additionally, employers strive to keep a healthy workforce and may want to consider offering Wellness Screenings to their employees as a valuable preventative service. A wellness screening, also called a “biometric screening”, provides an assessment of one’s basic health status including blood tests for cholesterol, blood glucose levels, and A1c, blood pressure measurement, and height and weight to calculate a body mass index (BMI). Additional testing may include Prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for men and mammogram screening for women.

These screenings can be conducted at our Occupational Health Clinic, in Conover, or our HealthFirst Center can come onsite to provide a convenient option that limits your employees’ time away from work.

First Responders –

First responders are a critical component within our community, providing a safe environment for our citizens. Due to the daily physical and mental demands of their roles and the potential exposure risks they endure; their physical exam is more comprehensive than a traditional physical exam.

Firefighter –

Firefighters must maintain a high level of physical fitness to ensure they can climb stairs and ladders, carry heavy equipment, wear a self-contained mask and breathing equipment, and assist people to safety. They can be exposed to smoke, fumes, and harmful chemicals while working.

Catawba Valley Occupational Health offers customized firefighter medical exams tailored to meet the individual needs and adhere to the current NFPA guidelines and the federal and state OSHA regulations.

Police Officer –

Police officers have a physically demanding and emotionally stressful job. It is important that police officers undergo physical exams to monitor their wellbeing on a regular basis. It is also important that the officers receive pre-screening to ensure they can safety perform the duties of their jobs to keep our community safe. Catawba Valley Occupational Health offers thorough examinations in compliance with all local and state guidelines.

Hearing Testing

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 22 million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise at work each year. Whether working at a sports/music venue, in a manufacturing plant or operating heavy machinery- hearing loss is preventable. The workplace is responsible for measuring noise levels, providing exposure parameters, and providing hearing protection devices to help reduce occupational noise-induced hearing loss.

Hearing conservation programs strive to prevent initial occupational hearing loss, preserve, and protect remaining hearing, and equip workers with the knowledge and hearing protection devices necessary to safeguard themselves.

Occupational Health offers audiometry baseline and annual testing with review by a qualified provider.

Spirometry, or Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) plays an important role in occupational respiratory health surveillance by helping to determine if a worker demonstrates a specific pattern of respiratory impairment and to assess the effectiveness of protective measures in the workplace.

A PFT measures how well the lungs are functioning and is used to evaluate worker respiratory health and to screen workers for their ability to perform certain work tasks. This may be used for various occupations in setting such as healthcare, industrial/manufacturing, first responders, and firefighters.

Occupational Health offers PFT for companies by appointment in our clinic, Mon-Fri.

Millions of workers are required to wear respirators in various workplace environments throughout the United States. Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fibers, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapor, sprays, and disease particles. These hazards may cause cancer, lung impairment, diseases, or death. Compliance with OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard could prevent large numbers of deaths and illnesses annually. Respirators protect in two basic ways: 1- removal of contaminants or particulates from the air via the use of a filter or cartridge system or 2-supplying clean air from another source providing their own air supply.

Employers should provide training on how to use respirators, how to test for and determine a proper fit and how to maintain their respirators for optimal use.

To maintain a drug-free workplace, it is important to drug test your employees periodically and as needed. You want to ensure you have a safe workplace to help reduce the risk of accidents and injury within your workplace.

Occupational Health offers the following 5 and 10 panel drug testing needed for employers. Each can use collection of urine, hair or saliva. We can cater to your needs and set up accordingly.

• Pre-employment
• Reasonable suspicion,
• Random drug testing and
• Post-accident.

An employer portal is available to easily access collection date/time of employee testing, test processing, and final results.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), along with the Department of Transportation (DOT), require that persons subject to the commercial driver’s license (CDL) requirements and their employers follow drug and alcohol testing rules. These rules include procedures for testing, frequency of testing and substances to be tested for.

A Department of Transportation (DOT) physical examination must be conducted by a licensed medical examiner listed on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) National Registry.

A DOT physical exam is valid for up to 24 months. The medical examiner may also issue a certificate for less than 24 months when it is desirable to monitor a health condition such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or sleep apnea. Drivers may consult the website for frequently asked questions about the medical requirements and drug & alcohol testing.

For additional information, please visit www.fmcsa.dot.gov.

• DOT physical- health history review, vital signs, thorough examination of:
  • General appearance, extremities, lungs & chest, heart, eye/ears, mouth/throat, nervous system, back & spine.
• Vision– required to have 20/40 acuity in each eye with/without correction.
• Hearing– perceive “forced whisper” at 5ft or less, with/without hearing aids.
• Blood pressure/pulse rate– looking for high blood pressure or irregular heart beats.
• Urinalysis– required to look for indications of underlying medical conditions such as Diabetes.

• Current medication list with dosage, regimen & your doctors’ name.
• Vision or hearing correction- bring eyeglasses, contacts or hearing aids.
• Drivers with certain medical issues need to bring the appropriate documents.
  • Diabetes: most recent Hemoglobin A1C (HgA1C), blood sugar log and Insulin-treated Diabetes Mellitus assessment (MCSA-5870).
  • Sleep Apnea: CPAP compliance report.
  • Heart related issues: letter from cardiologist outlining medical history, medications, and statement saying safe to work & drive a commercial vehicle.