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Date: 11/8/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – In January, occupational therapist Lisa Blain created Health Desk, a virtual service that provides employees tips to improve their energy and comfort in their workspace.
Working from home has quickly become the norm as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, one-in-five respondents say they worked from home all or most of the time. Now, 71 percent of those workers are doing their job from home all or most of the time. According to the same study, more than half say, given a choice, they would want to keep working from home even after the pandemic.
“With unprecedented numbers of employees continuing to work remotely or hybrid, complaints of muscle fatigue, eye strain and headaches are becoming quite common,” Blain said. “Adjusting the workspace to the worker whether it be home, back at the office or hybrid to the worker is an essential part of employee well-being and productivity.”
Even though they have a demanding job working from home, Blain wants her clients to still have the energy and comfort to engage in other activities outside of work and in addition to work.
“The idea for Health Desk started during the pandemic. Our clinic was closed at the beginning of the pandemic and I brought my work home with me. My family was working from home, and I started adjusting workspaces for my son, my husband and their co-workers. I gave advice beyond family on how to improve their workspaces and comfort when they were working from home,” Blain explained.
Through Health Desk, office/home-office workers schedule an appointment. Then they complete a short questionnaire and send photos of themselves at their workspace. Next, they meet with Blain on a Zoom call where she starts making adjustments to their workspace. After the call, Blain sends a written report on those changes: seating, desk set-up, lighting, posture and work habits. In addition, she will provide stretches that are appropriate to each individual and will send a follow-up email within three weeks to check in on their progress.
“When I’m meeting with people, I’m looking at their situation pretty holistically,” she said. “I’m not just looking at the height of the monitor or the height of the chair. It’s more than just your seat and your desk height. I’m really trying to get a full understanding of the work you’re doing, the environment or what other demands you have on your time and space and how you're balancing.” She said she looks at where a person works, the time of day they're working, what devices they’re utilizing to make recommendations that is tailored to each person’s individual specific needs.
Blain has been an occupational therapist since 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and an Master of Science in occupational therapy from Rush University in Chicago. She has worked in several clinical settings in inpatient and outpatient rehab and with people who have different diagnoses ranging from spinal cord injury, stroke and head injuries to her current position in an outpatient rehabilitation clinic dealing with upper extremity injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injury. In addition to being an occupational therapist, Blain has received specialized training in the field of ergonomics and is a certified Remote Ergonomic Assessment Specialist by the Back School of Atlanta, GA.
“The essence of my profession is to look at our clients holistically, to look at the tasks that they have to do every day, when there's any difficulty with those tasks and how to modify them,” Blain responded.
Blain is in the early stages of Health Desk and is still trying to grow her clientele working with individuals and with offices that have several people that might be working from home by providing consultation to a group or to an entire staff as needed. She is currently working with the Small Business Development Center to help further develop marketing and social media to spread the word on Health Desk.
“I am a relatively new business and I’m hoping to generate support in the local area,” said Blain.
To learn more about Health Desk, visit Blain's website at www.healthdesk.work.