Rolanda Williams instructs a student during one of the Project SEARCH meetings. (Photo by Ian Keel)Mark Linn - Staff Writerquiaego@uab.edu
UAB is partnering with Project SEARCH to provide internship opportunities at UAB hospital to developmentally disabled students from the Birmingham City School System.
The Project SEARCH High School Transition Program is a school-to-work program that seeks to help high school-aged individuals with developmental disabilities find internship opportunities and to prepare them for employment after graduation.
According to Project SEARCH’s website, the program began in 1996 at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Erin Riehle, then director of the Emergency Department, was frustrated with the high-turnover rate and low performance among the entry-level positions such as responsibility for restocking supplies cabinets. Wondering if it would be possible to offer internship opportunities to developmentally disabled students, many of whom were served by Cincinnati Children’s, Riehle partnered with Great Oak Career Campuses and the Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Board to begin the first project SEARCH program. The program now has more than 300 sites across the U.S., as well as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, according to their website.
“You’re talking about kids with disabilities who would probably be referred to supportive employment, or some type of day activity center, or maybe just sitting at home,” said the Project SEARCH instructor at UAB, Rolanda Williams. “And these individuals are actually out in the community doing jobs just as you and I would be doing.”
Project SEARCH first came to Alabama in 2013 and now has 10 host locations across the state.
“The UAB hospital leadership was approached by the Birmingham City School System and they really wanted to discuss options for project SEARCH here at UAB,” said the coordinator of the AWARE Disability Management Program at UAB, Sherri Moultrie. “They were previously located at Birmingham Southern and transitioned from the Birmingham location here to UAB in August.”
The program lasts for a full school year and consists of three 10-week rotations between the various participating hospital departments. Each location is staffed by one special education teacher and one to three job coaches. Rolanda Williams is the special education instructor at UAB, and Faustina Williams and Alex Faust are job instructors.
The students’ time is divided between the intern work and periods of classroom education at the beginning and end of each day.
“Part of the instruction will be things like we’re teaching them real life skills. We’re teaching them about resume writing, interviewing, how to work with others, how to problem solve issues,” Williams said. “Anything that’s necessary for them to be productive citizens and to live on their own without long term support. Ultimately the goal of the program is independent living as well as competitive employment.”
There are currently eight interns involved in the rotation process. The process includes between 10-12 students. Applicants to the program are typically students with significant developmental and intellectual disabilities whom have finished their high school coursework. The students are referred to the program by the school district, counselors or their families. The students’ ages range from 18-21, since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act allows people with developmental disabilities to attend high school until they are 21.
“It’s a very hands on type process, we learn about the responsibility, duties, and really just the needs they might have their in their department so we can pinpoint and really try to identify a person for that rotation,” Moultrie said. “[The interns] work really closely with the staff there and they’re not an employee of UAB but they have the same expectations.”
The Project SEARCH staff are seeking to expand the program to include more interns and other departments of the hospital.
“[Our goal is] to let the hospital know that even though the interns have these special needs that they have the capabilities and skillsets to perform these competitive employment jobs and if given the opportunity,” Faustina Williams said.
They also hope to get the word out to the Birmingham community and one day expand the program beyond UAB hospital.
“We don’t want to leave anybody out,” Faust said. “At the end of the day we want to help as many potential interns as we can because everybody deserves the chance to have a job and be independent.”
