Project Provides Job Training, Employment for Students with Disabilities
Project Search, a collaborative effort between MedCentral Health System, Richland Newhope Center and Pioneer Career and Technology Center, is a program that provides job training to students with disabilities. The program teaches students job skills, and may ultimately lead to employment with the system. The students work at Mansfield Hospital from 9:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. and return to their classroom at the end of the day for a wrap-up session. Students rotate to a new job every 10 weeks, trying out different departments such as human resources, biomedical engineering, sterile reprocessing, housekeeping and nursing. Project Search is modeled after a program initiated by Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati – a program that resulted in the hiring of 70 students as employees. Ryan Ulmer is still a Project Search student, but he also is now an employee in the Sterile Reprocessing Department at MedCentral/Mansfield Hospital.