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COMMUNITY
By Andrea Kalas-Nagel
GRADUAT ING FROM HIGH
school wi th an intel lectual or
developmental disability is hard
enough, but trying to find a job after
graduation is a whole other challenge.
Project Search is a high school
transition program that was created
to help these students gain necessary
skills to achieve employment.
Project Search combines classroom
time with a one-year unpaid intern-
ship. This combination of instruction
and immersion in the workplace set-
ting allows students to gain hands-on
experience and skills they can take out
into the community.
“It’s amazing to see the support
fromKootenai and its employees,” said Theresa Moran,
Project Search instructor. “It’s such a welcoming environ-
ment. The students are considered interns here, just like
the NIC nursing students. It gives them a real feel for the
job—something they could never learn in a classroom.”
The Project Search program is based in Cincinnati and
was founded at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in
1996. Now nationwide, the program was introduced to
Kootenai in 2008 when Tesh, Inc., Kootenai Health, the
Coeur d’Alene School District and the Idaho Division
of Vocational Rehabilitation started working together to
bring the program to the area. In September 2010, the
first Project Search class started at Kootenai.
Students who participate in the program must meet
multiple requirements before they are accepted. They
must be ages 18 to 21, qualify for special education ser-
vices, have achieved at least second-grade reading and
math levels, and have a desire to work in the community,
among other requirements.
“They have to want to be here,” Moran said. “They’re
gaining skills they need to get experience and employ-
ment in the community. At the end of each job rotation,
students give presentations to the hospital staff and com-
Zach, a 2011 Project Search graduate, worked in the Kootenai Kids day care to gain work
experience and job skills.
munity members about what they’ve learned.”
Kootenai employs three special-needs employees in
various areas of the hospital, and recently hired a Project
Search graduate to work in quality improvement.
“Our Project Search intern exceeded our expectations,”
said John Kalb, operational excellence executive. “He has
a great attention to detail and is focused on excellence,
both of which are very important to the work of improv-
ing quality in health care. We are excited to work with
him and watch his skills and talents develop.”
“Our goal is community employment for our students,”
Moran said. “Kootenai Health helps with the preparation
for that. After the program they still work with vocational
rehabilitation and coaches, but we need them to be able
to go out and gain that employment themselves. It’s an
amazing collaborative effort.”
M A R K Y O U R C A L E N D A R
This year ’s Project Search presentations are
Wednesday, Nov. 21, in Kootenai Health’s
Health Resource Center, FoxAuditorium. Want to learn
more about Project Search? Come to the presentation or
call
208-666-3435
.
Making the Transition
P R O J E C T S E A R C H G I V E S H I G H S C H O O L G R A D U A T E S
W I T H D I S A B I L I T I E S A N O P P O R T U N I T Y T O G A I N
E M P L O Y M E N T E X P E R I E N C E A N D T R A I N I N G
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