Month: June 2023

SFM Foundation awards 16 new scholarships, holds 2023 golf fundraisers

Posted on by Sara Goese

Fifteen years after the SFM Foundation began their mission to help make college affordable for students affected by work injuries, they’ve granted 232 scholarships totaling $3.7 million.

This includes $502,000 awarded to 16 new recipients announced in May. Six of these students are from Iowa and 10 are from Minnesota.

Over 125 scholarship recipients have graduated since the SFM Foundation’s inception in 2008, and there are currently 72 active scholarships. Scholarships are awarded regardless of the workers’ compensation insurer involved in the claim.

Thanks to the generous support of event sponsors and donors, the Foundation has been able to reach these families in need for a decade and a half.

The Foundation’s golf fundraisers are the primary source of fundraising for their scholarship fund, and 2023 was no exception. The Minnesota golf event has become one of the largest charity golf tournaments in the state. This year’s event on June 12 raised an astounding $125,000 for the scholarship program. The Iowa golf outing is a newer event and continues to grow each year. This year’s event on May 22 raised $45,000 for scholarships.

Mark your calendar for the Foundation’s annual fall fundraising online auction and in-person event  in early November.

The Foundation is always on the lookout for eligible scholarship candidates. If you know of a family who would qualify for an SFM Foundation scholarship, please direct them to sfmfoundation.com/apply .

About the SFM Foundation

The SFM Foundation provides scholarships for students whose parents were seriously injured or killed while working for Minnesota or Iowa employers. SFM Foundation is an affiliate of Kids’ Chance of America  in Iowa and Minnesota and is also known as Kids’ Chance of Iowa. To learn more about the cause, visit sfmfoundation.com .

 

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Four things you need to do after an employee is injured

Posted on by Patty Busse

Your employee was injured at work. You took care of the employee’s immediate medical needs and reported the incident to your workers’ compensation insurer.

What’s next?

You can help prevent similar injuries, get the employee on the road to recovery and ensure a smooth claim process by doing the following:

1. Investigate the incident

The goal of investigating isn’t to find fault, but to understand exactly what happened so you can make sure the same type of injury doesn’t happen again.

Go to the scene of the accident and talk with witnesses to learn what happened. Take photos. Save any equipment involved. Our post on workplace accident analysis tells you how to prepare to investigate incidents and even provides a checklist that can help you think through what happened and how your organization can prevent similar incidents in the future.

2. Consult with your claims representative

Notify your SFM claims representative right away if the employee will be off work. This ensures that the claims representative will have enough time to get wage-loss benefits paid before your state’s deadline.

When the injured worker is released back to work, call your representative. Make sure you’re aware of the status of the claim and the employee’s treatment schedule, and don’t hesitate to ask questions.

3. Stay in contact with the injured employee

Make a call or a visit as soon as you can. It’s important to answer any questions an injured employee has about the expected recovery and return to work.

It’s not uncommon for injured employees to become isolated or depressed and fear they won’t have a job to return to. Reaching out to them early and often reassures them you care about their well-being and are looking forward to their return to work.

For more details on this topic, read our post about staying in contact with injured employees.

4. Arrange for return-to-work

As soon as a doctor clears the employee to return to work, find a way to bring the employee back, even if medical restrictions prevent returning to his or her pre-injury job. Options include finding a temporary light-duty position, reducing hours or adjusting the employee’s regular job to accommodate restrictions.

Make it clear when, where and to whom the employee is to report.

If the accommodation means the employee will be earning less pay, either because of reduced hours or the position pays less, SFM can make up some of the difference by paying temporary partial disability benefits.

Learn more about return-to-work with the post about why return-to-work matters now more than ever to your bottom line.

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