RKB: A new perspective for accident victims

On June 16, 2018, the Bellikon Rehabilitation Clinic (RKB) will open its doors to the public. After five years of construction, the Suva clinic is ready for the future. Thanks to the conversion and new construction, Suva has been able to adapt the range of services offered by the Bellikon rehabilitation clinic to the current needs of patients and medical developments. Suva invested 350 million Swiss francs in this project. In addition to the clinic in Bellikon, Suva also operates the Clinique romande de réadaptation (CRR) in Sion. Both clinics treat over 2800 inpatients annually.

With its rehabilitation clinics, Suva focuses on rehabilitation as well as professional reintegration. "In addition to our prevention work and the insurance business, it is a major concern of ours to reintegrate people who have suffered serious accidents into everyday life and the work process," says Daniel Roscher, member of the Executive Board of the Suva. "The fact that people who have had an accident are given a career perspective makes a significant contribution to successful rehabilitation." In recent years, Suva has succeeded in getting an average of more than 80 percent of serious accident victims back to work after their accident. This means that their reintegration success is consistently at a high level. "The two rehabilitation clinics underline Suva's economic and social responsibility," says Roscher. How well a return to work and private life after a Accident is relevant from an economic point of view. "Every franc invested in rehabilitation pays for itself many times over," he says.

Training for the working world 4.0

With the conversion and new construction of the Bellikon rehabilitation clinic, Suva modernized, among other things, the workshops as well as the Therapy- and training places of work-oriented rehabilitation. It has adapted these to the digital requirements of the working world 4.0. Accident victims can now receive practical training in work processes, both indoors and outdoors, whether in terms of gross and fine motor skills or on the computer. "This step was necessary in order to be able to successfully integrate accident victims into working life in the future," Roscher emphasizes. The specialist employment office is now located in the middle of the occupational integration department. Doctors, vocational counselors, job coaches, physical and occupational therapists, and psychologists provide coordinated support to patients in the various situations of medical and vocational rehabilitation, and together they can steer developments even more effectively.

Fewer hurdles for demanding everyday life

According to Roscher, the clinic's new room concept generally benefits collaboration between the various medical and therapeutic departments. After all, short communication paths are a success factor for this. In the clinic, which has been in existence since 1974, space had become tight in recent years and the clinic structure was no longer in line with requirements. Thanks to the renovation and new building, patients benefit from optimized routes between the various therapy rooms, which simplifies their demanding daily routine. For example, the technical orthopedics department is now located next to the amputee walking school.

Early rehabilitation pays off

People who have suffered a serious accident have the best chance of getting back into work if they receive the right support as quickly as possible. This is because the chances of reintegration decrease steadily after a prolonged incapacity for work. Studies even show that the chances of reintegration drop by around 50 percent if an employee is unable to work for longer than six months. This is why early entry into rehabilitation clinics and targeted rehabilitation measures are crucial for insured persons. Every year, more than 4,000 of Suva's insured suffer accidents so severe that they cannot be reintegrated without coordinated support. Although not all of them require inpatient rehabilitation, Suva's case management accompanies them throughout the entire recovery process: with medical services, rehabilitation and measures for reintegration into the work process. This reintegration into everyday working life gives injured people back some of their quality of life, opens up new perspectives for them and reintroduces them into the circle of their colleagues.

People affected tell

On the Suva website and in a video, various affected people tell how they found their way back into everyday life after an accident thanks to successful rehabilitation. "Today, I am convinced that Bellikon was my greatest good fortune," says Simon Gerber, a former railroad delivery man who was dragged two and a half kilometers by a train and lost his foot in the process. Today he works with heart and soul as a bus driver.

Open Day at the Rehaklinik Bellikon

Date: June 16, 2018, 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Info from Suva about rehabilitation clinics

Video "The "long road" back to work".

Text: Suva