Bon Secours St. Francis Health System announced Aug. 17 the expansion of its Project SEARCH program, which provides internships to students with disabilities.
Since its debut in 2017, the program has provided real life work experience for eight to 10 students from area schools. With the expansion, it will be able to double its capacity to 20 interns.
“The social impact of this program within the Greenville community has been tremendous and we believe we have a perfect combination of skillset, education, and opportunity to help it grow and flourish,” said Bon Secours St. Francis market president Matt Caldwell. “We want to continue inspiring and partnering with the local business community to build a world-class workforce where people are valued for their skills and talents but also appreciated for their uniqueness.”
In addition to expanding the number of participants, the program will be using the Joseph J. Pazdan Project SEARCH Center, which is a renovated existing office space.
Funded by the St. Francis Foundation and community donors, the center will provide additional space for classroom instruction as well as training rooms that are designed to reflect patient care areas where interns can practice their skillsets.
The expanded space also includes:
- Locker room
- Break room
- ADA-compliant restroom
- Conference room
It will also house the Project SEARCH Store, an intern-led operation that promotes sustainability by keeping track of excess office supplies that hospital staff can request instead of ordering more.
Following the 2019-2020 school year, the employment rate for all Project SEARCH sites in the United States was 55%. The Bon Secours St. Francis program outperformed that with 80% of its class becoming employed upon graduation. In addition, 100% of the health system’s most recent graduating class is employed as well, said Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in a press release.
For more information, visit scvrd.net/project-search.
