After Jack Sutherland (not his real name) was injured in a logging accident at work, his life turned in a downward spiral.
In 1983, a tree broke his back and he ended up with a serious fracture. He had steel rods placed in his back, used below-the-knee braces and suffered from excruciating, chronic pain. Yet he was determined to return to work, he wanted to feel purposeful again, like he was making some kind of contribution to society. His job as a “faller” was all he knew for 20 years of his life and he wanted that back.
But, it didn’t work out as he planned. The manager of the company made it more than clear they didn’t really want him back. He would never be 100 per cent again and wasn’t useful to the company anymore.
Sutherland was bitter about the situation and was also in constant physical pain. His physical pain eventually led to depression and after his youngest son graduated from school, he took his life.
This story will be burned in Wolfgang Zimmermann’s mind forever. Zimmermann, who is now the executive director of the National Institute of Disability Management and Research, worked with Sutherland for more than five years and they had become good friends. Zimmermann had a similar accident, but was back on his feet and working after six months. He continuously thinks about what would’ve happened if, like his friend, he didn’t return to work.
“Being able to work was what essentially was my greatest salvation because it forced me to focus on the job I was doing.
“When you’re forced out of that and you don’t work and are not fully engaged otherwise, the pain becomes very difficult to deal with,” he says.
In 1983, a tree broke his back and he ended up with a serious fracture. He had steel rods placed in his back, used below-the-knee braces and suffered from excruciating, chronic pain. Yet he was determined to return to work, he wanted to feel purposeful again, like he was making some kind of contribution to society. His job as a “faller” was all he knew for 20 years of his life and he wanted that back.
But, it didn’t work out as he planned. The manager of the company made it more than clear they didn’t really want him back. He would never be 100 per cent again and wasn’t useful to the company anymore.
Sutherland was bitter about the situation and was also in constant physical pain. His physical pain eventually led to depression and after his youngest son graduated from school, he took his life.
This story will be burned in Wolfgang Zimmermann’s mind forever. Zimmermann, who is now the executive director of the National Institute of Disability Management and Research, worked with Sutherland for more than five years and they had become good friends. Zimmermann had a similar accident, but was back on his feet and working after six months. He continuously thinks about what would’ve happened if, like his friend, he didn’t return to work.
“Being able to work was what essentially was my greatest salvation because it forced me to focus on the job I was doing.
“When you’re forced out of that and you don’t work and are not fully engaged otherwise, the pain becomes very difficult to deal with,” he says.
