SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Twelve students from Springfield's District 186 are part of Project SEARCH, a transition-to-work program for students with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The goal is to help these students get competitive employment opportunities after they finish the program.
Project SEARCH launched at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in 1996. Now, it has more than 600 sites worldwide. The District 186 program is the first in downstate Illinois.
Project SEARCH takes older students with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 21 and works to embed them in jobs throughout the community.
“These are not jobs that have been created specifically for them,” Raechel Haas, the Project SEARCH lead instructor, said. “While there may be a few minor accommodations, our students integrate into their assigned work setting for 10-week internships. Then they rotate.”
The partnership with Memorial Health Human Resources was set to launch at Springfield Memorial in early 2020 but was postponed due to COVID.
Project SEARCH was finally able to debut in November 2021. Students attend job-skill classes on-site every morning before they head to work in the emergency department, surgery units, central supply, sterile processing, food and nutrition, environmental services and other areas throughout the hospital.
“Our colleagues have been blown away by their abilities and what they bring to the departments,” said Jay Boulanger, volunteer services coordinator at Springfield Memorial. “It was a time of high stress [during the pandemic], and there was some apprehension initially. It’s been neat to see the transformation on our teams from ‘How is this going to work?’ to ‘This is amazing!’”
Jobs in the Emergency Department can include sanitizing chairs and common areas in the lobby, restocking supplies, stacking warm towels and escorting visitors back to patient rooms. Students who work in main surgery stock ID carts, collect and clean stretchers and retrieve supplies from labs.
Project SEARCH follows the school calendar with the goal of having all interns placed in a job before the end of May.
“This is really a capstone for the students and their high school career,” Haas said. “This provides a transition for them from school to work. This helps families as well. The feedback from parents has been so positive. These students gain confidence and independence through this experience.”
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