Program helps people with pain keep active, working

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BY NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

More than a year ago, Dan Reiber had to give up his job running a group home for developmentally disabled adults because of health problems. 

The health issues go way back, to January 1968, when he broke his right leg in eight places in a car accident, which led to three hip replacement surgeries, lower back problems, walking difficulties — and pain. 

In early 2006, Reiber started falling and finally had to tell his employers it wasn’t safe for him be taking care of clients. 

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Dan Reiber has dealt with leg and back pain since he was in a car accident when he was 22. He has had some relief since starting the Ticket to Work program.(Jill Peitzmeier)

Dan Reiber has dealt with leg and back pain since he was in a car accident when he was 22. He has had some relief since starting the Ticket to Work program.(Jill Peitzmeier)

“I had to do a lot of direct care of patients,” Reiber said. “So I had to quit working.”

Then he was stuck at home for months, his muscles getting weaker, his attitude getting bleaker.

Today, Reiber is working part time and hasn’t fallen in months, thanks in part to help from a pilot project that helps people with pain keep active and at work.

The Ticket to Work Palliative Care Program is a small, federally funded program that uses the expertise of the Nebraska Hospice and Palliative Care Partnership and its 60 member organizations.

The project focuses on palliative care — a holistic approach to  pain and symptom management that identifies medical, emotional and spiritual issues. 

A physical therapist came to Reiber’s  home to work on getting strength back in his legs — “to make me stronger, to get back my life,” he said. 

“I was a hurtin’ camper,” said Reiber, who also practiced  breathing and biofeedback techniques to handle the pain.  

Reiber, 61, works 20 hours a week as a paid volunteer for the Salvation Army. He gets paid minimum wage for an assortment of clerical duties.

The money helps when his Medicare drug plan reaches its limit. 

But an even bigger benefit is the emotional lift that comes with feeling useful.

“I felt like I had been beaten,” Reiber said. “I was ready to give up.  I thought, ‘I’m just going to be stuck in the house.’

“They let me know I could fight back from this and be a useful member of society,” he said of the people involved with the pilot project.

Reiber was the second of 14 Nebraskans to participate in this small, first-in-the-nation program, run with about $71,000 in federal funds a year.

It’s an effort to merge medical and social services, to bring pain management techniques to Nebraskans whose pain is limiting their ability to work, said Sharon Johnson, a grants coordinator with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. 

The goal is to help people live more productive lives, she said.

“People want to work. We need to figure out how we can support that and keep people from thinking their only recourse is to get cash benefits,” Johnson said.

Ed Sewell says he’s a Type A personality who “cannot not work.”

Plus, he’s a father and husband and wants to take care of his family.

But Sewell has had eight back-related surgeries since 1990 and takes pain medication every three hours, which can play havoc with his memory.

A mortgage broker, Sewell says he can work only one or two hours some days.

Through the Ticket to Work pilot program, he found someone to design a desk that will go up and down, allowing him to stand or sit — whichever is most comfortable at the moment.

“I do not want to be a burden on anybody. I want to work. I’m hoping this will be positive. This is the first ray of light in a while.” 

Four people — a nurse, social worker, pharmacist and services coordinator — work part time with the project, helping clients and often referring them to others for specific help. 

The program doesn’t promise miracles, said Johnson.

“We are making no promise that we are going to remove the pain, or that we are a job placement agency. But if we can move a person into a position where the pain is tolerable and they can return to work or increase their hours, we are successful.

“Honestly we have gotten very creative and very skilled at looking at all possible supports that might be available to someone.”

During her time in the pilot program, Linda Ems found a medicated cream that really helps the pain in her feet caused by arthritis and neuropathy.

And she started taking water aerobics, which make her feel better. 

Ems works two part-time jobs, trying to make ends meet after her husband died unexpectedly last December. She says the help with the pain has made working a little easier.  

About 50 percent of the clients in the pilot project are not getting Social Security disability. The goal is to keep them working longer, Johnson said. 

About half are on disability and need the health care that comes with it, but they may be able to work part-time.

So, even when the financial savings are minimal, helping people feel and be more useful “ is the right thing to do,” Johnson said. 

Reiber says he’s grateful for the physical therapy that made it possible to work part-time.

He’s equally grateful for the hope. 

“ I was just sitting here looking at the TV. And I’ve always been one of those people who are out in the community.”

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.