Dr. Bob Chestnut actively promotes the speciality of occupational health
Dr. Bob Chestnut is the chief medical director at Cummins, a global power technology leader that designs, manufactures, distributes and services a broad portfolio of power solutions. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, Cummins employs approximately 73,000 people around the world.
In this episode of OccTok, Dr. Chestnut explains how he developed an interest in the occupational health field early in life. Several employment experiences doing manual labor, including working in farm fields and the fishing industry, opened his eyes to the health needs of workers. Then, as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, he worked as a wellness coach and developed a passion for what can happen when employers invest in their workforces and create programs and environments where employees can thrive and focus on their health.
Listen now to hear how Dr. Chestnut is sharing his passion for occ health by hosting medical students for two-week corporate medicine rotations at one of Cummins' patient centered medical homes, a large near site clinic next to the company's headquarters in Columbus. During that experience, students shadow one of the company's board certified occupational health physicians and rotate through the company's onsite physical therapy clinic where they provide a number of musculoskeletal programs, acupuncture and chiropractic services.
OccTok is a podcast produced by Enterprise Health to support the mission of ACOEM's Ambassador Program, an initiative to increase awareness of occupational and environmental medicine among medical and APP students and residents and provide opportunities for real-world experiences for interested trainees.
The Ambassador Program is led by a group of occupational health professionals who recruit others in the specialty to volunteer as ambassadors and present at lunch and learns at medical and physician assistant schools throughout the U.S. The presentations introduce attendees to the specialty and its benefits which include high satisfaction and low burnout rates, and provide information on common work environments including hospitals and health systems, colleges and universities, the public sector, sports and entertainment, and a wide variety of corporate and manufacturing settings.
Listen now to hear Dr. Chestnut's personal journey into occupational medicine.