Project SEARCH celebrates one year
Nine students from Christiana Care’s Project SEARCH celebrated end-of-year activities with their parents and work-site and project partners at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center on June 11.
Christiana Care is the inaugural employer in Delaware to host Project SEARCH, a nationally recognized program dedicated to training individuals with disabilities to obtain job skills necessary to secure competitive employment and possess the self-confidence to enter the workforce after graduation. The cornerstone of the project is total immersion in the employment environment coupled with continued classroom training and mentoring.
“Each of the student interns spent valuable time in the classroom and on-site in various sponsoring departments at Christiana Hospital learning workplace skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives,” said Gary Ferguson, Christiana Care chief operating officer.
Students rotated during the year through the following departments at Christiana Care:
- Environmental Services.
- Materiel Management.
- Medical /Dental Staff Services.
- HIMS.
- Operating Room.
- Food & Nutrition.
- Patient Escort.
- Sterile Processing.
- Oncology.
One student intern, Kaivon Edwards, accepted a part-time job in Environmental Services.
“Learning the different rotations was a great experience,” said Kaivon. “The staff really treated me like one of their own. It’s been great all around.”
Following a presentation of awards and student testimonials, the event closed with a reception in the main auditorium.
Current partners in Project SEARCH are Christiana Care, the Red Clay Consolidated School District, Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County, Inc., and the State of Delaware’s Department of Education and Department of Labor, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.