An e-learning resource toolkit developed by Epilepsy Toronto and funded by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario to help company managers, human-resources personnel and employees better understand epilepsy and how to react if a person has a seizure in the workplace is slated to be released in mid to late winter.

Epilepsy@work is intended to be rolled out across Ontario to make workplaces more inclusive for people living with a seizure condition. It will also provide employers with information pertaining to their rights and obligations when hiring people with epilepsy, says employment consultant Tim Nourse.

Epilepsy@work, which will use slides, photos and videos to educate people, is not just directed at making workplaces more inclusive and safer for staff members and managers; it’s also beneficial to know what to do should a customer have a seizure, Nourse notes.

There are three components to the toolkit: one for managers, one for employees and one that’s a users’ manual for human-resources departments to describe how to use the toolkit.

The component aimed at employees will serve as a training course to help workers understand epilepsy. For example, if a supermarket’s customer had a seizure while shopping and employees handled the situation poorly, epilepsy@work could be used as a resource to better train staff, Nourse says.

“The manager could say, ‘here’s this resource and I want all my employees to take this course online,’ and then they do a little test at the end and show the boss a certificate, so the next time somebody comes in and has a seizure the employees will act much more appropriately and will keep that customer,” he explains.

“Or, it just might be used by an employer who just wants to do the smart thing and have a more diverse workforce and is thinking about hiring someone who has epilepsy because they want to learn more about it; they want to know how to accommodate, they want to know how to talk to co-workers about epilepsy and they want to know what their obligations are.”

The second component will be for hiring managers. This segment will use case studies, checklists, flow charts and questionnaires that will help people who do recruiting and hiring understand their rights and obligations as well as the rights of employees who have a seizure condition.

Epilepsy@work will also feature a first-aid simulator. This video feature will give the viewer a camera-lens view of what it’s like to witness someone having a tonic-clonic seizure. Throughout the video there will be pauses that are an interactive feature. The first pause will take place right after the person falls to the ground and starts to convulse. Questions will pop up on the screen. What do you do? Call 9-1-1? Time the seizure? Run away?

“Instead of seeing a video about tonic-clonic seizures and telling you what to do, this gives users the opportunity to be interactive,” Nourse says.

Epilepsy Toronto and the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario have been working together to identify key audiences for epilepsy@work. The hospitality and retail sectors top the list of employers that the rollout will be aimed at attracting.

“This is going to be amazing; there’s nothing like this out there and we’re excited about it and the province is excited about this, too,” Nourse says.

Writer: Deron Hamel

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