With a desire to help students with disabilities living within its 20-town service area make a successful transition to productive adult life, Milford Regional Medical Center adopted Project SEARCH, a national transitional program to teach valuable life and job skills.
Designed for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities entering their last year of high school, Project SEARCH provides internship placement based on the student’s experiences, strengths, and skills, with the end goal being competitive employment within the community. All students need to be eligible for the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission or other vocational rehabilitation services to participate.
First launched at an Ohio hospital, the program has been replicated across the country, and Milford Regional Medical Center, in partnership with Milford Public Schools, was the first hospital in Massachusetts to adopt Project SEARCH.
In an internship-like setting, the program participants work with a teacher and an on-site job coach. Students rotate through three, 11-week internships in hospital departments, which have included sterile processing, environmental services, stock room, food services, pharmacy, and facilities. In the eight years since its implementation, Milford Regional has not only sustained the program, but has hired five former Project SEARCH participants.
“It is great to see the growth and development of the interns as they master job skills and become independent in the hospital setting,” says Director of Volunteer Services Elaine Willey, business liaison for the program at Milford Regional. “They become part of our team.”
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Massachusetts hospitals provided $641 million in community benefits for residents of Massachusetts in Fiscal Year 2018. These hospital community benefits programs – provided at no cost to those being served – are not reimbursed by state or federal governments, by any health insurance company, or through any public subsidy. View community benefit stories from across Massachusetts in this MHA Commitment to Community publication.