EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine November 2019 | Page 27
PROJECT SEARCH:
EMPOWERING THROUGH EMPLOYMENT
“
H
by Alex Gurtis
alifax Health is our community’s hospital and we have a
responsibility to engage our community members at all
levels. Project SEARCH allows us to fulfill this mission,”
Halifax Health CEO Jeff Feasel said about
the Project SEARCH Transition-to-Work
Program.
As part of the program, Halifax
Health trains people with developmental
disabilities to fill entry-level positions.
The program offers a unique, business-
led, one-year employment preparation
experience that provides a seamless
combination of classroom instruction,
career exploration, and hands-on training
Jeff Feasel
through worksite rotations, culminating
in individualized job development.
The hallmark of the program is total workplace immersion with
the singular goal of competitive employment for every program
graduate. “We achieve that goal by creating an atmosphere of
high expectations while offering all the support, education and
experience needed to meet those expectations. At Halifax Health,
we have had 27 graduates over three years. All have gotten
jobs, and Halifax Health is pleased to have hired nine of those
graduates,” Feasel said.
Project SEARCH began their
partnership with Halifax Health in
August 2016 but the program dates back
to 1996 where it began at Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The
program, which continues to expand,
currently has 400 sites worldwide,
three of which are in Volusia County..
“Halifax Health was one of the three
places in mind from the beginning.
Halifax is the center of our community
in Volusia County, and they are a
Braandon Davis
huge advocate for individuals with
disabilities,” said Braandon Davis, Project SEARCH’s Skills Trainer.
“We knew this would be a great opportunity to showcase what the
individuals we serve can do in a hospital setting and at the same
time show the community that these individuals can intern and
work fully paid positions. We approached Volusia County Schools
and Halifax Health and after a couple of conversations both were
excited to partner with us.”
For Halifax Health, Project SEARCH is a rewarding Corporate
Social Responsibility program–one that provides the dual benefits
of invaluable job training for individuals in the program and a
trained workforce for Halifax to tap into to fill their employment
needs.
Halifax Health campus
It’s also a program beloved by Halifax
Health employees. “Each manager at
Halifax Health who works with Project
SEARCH to train and supervise the
recent high school graduates has said the
program is a morale booster, says Halifax
Health’s Project SEARCH Employment
Specialist, WG Watts.
To participate in the program,
individuals must apply during their
senior year of high school and fulfill their
WG Watts
graduation requirements. Candidates
must also pass a background check. “We look at the need for work
training, their individual plan, and their discipline record. They’re
then paired with different managers at Halifax Health’s Port Orange
and Daytona Beach locations or Stetson University through Project
SEARCH,” said Cathy Galotti, Project SEARCH Coordinator for
Volusia County Schools.
Once they have completed their year of training, program
graduates go on to find an entry-level job. Graduates are often hired
to work in medical records, dietary, and other hospital services at
Halifax Health or find similar work elsewhere in the community.
The program has been so successful, that Volusia County
received an award from Project SEARCH for having a 100% success
rate, meaning that ALL of their high
school graduates that participated in
the program had maintained a job for
at least 180 days. “I get so excited about
this program. It’s incredible to see how
different students are on the first day
compared to the last day, to see their
growth as they blossom with newly
gained confidence,” said Galotti.
“Ultimately, it’s the fact that we’ve
been able to empower these individuals
through employment that’s important,”
said WG Watts. It’s a sentiment echoed
by graduates of the program like
Heather McGinnis, a Project SEARCH
Heather McGinnis
2016-2017 alumna.
“I learned how to be professional, complete a job task; I learned
that there are different areas that I am interested in working at
Halifax [Health] sometime down the line. I graduated from Project
SEARCH, got offered a job at Halifax [Health] and now I am living
in my own apartment with roommates,” sums up McGinnis.
Alex Gurtis is a freelance journalist and poet. His
work has appeared in 32805ORLNews, the Orlando
Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News Journal, Zephyr
and Storyteller Magazine.
NOVEMBER 2019 | 27 |