“SEARCH”ing (And Finding) The Right Fit.

The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities has long advocated the inclusion of individuals with disabilities into workplaces within our communities. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than GCDD’s partnership with Project SEARCH. Project SEARCH is a one-year high school transition program that seeks to place citizens living with disabilities in job positions that use the person’s unique talents and skills. The program provides job training, interviewing and educational skills while giving students the opportunity to practice their employability skills during three-to-four 10-week internships in community businesses. The cornerstone of Project SEARCH is total immersion in a business. Often, the internships lead to part-time or full-time positions in the normal workforce. These are six stories about Project SEARCH graduates, the jobs they are performing, and the enjoyment they are getting out of being very productive members of their communities. Jared Caruso No matter what kind of job you can think of, there’s always somebody who does it better than anyone else. In the field of preparing surgical trays for dermatologists at the Georgia Skin and Cancer Clinic in Savannah, that person is Jared Caruso. As one of Jared’s duties, he sterilizes surgical instruments and supplies, wraps them in special paper and puts them in a specific order so the physicians know exactly where everything is at any given time during their procedures on patients. “There’s an art form to it,” says Kandie Spence, director of patient services at the clinic, “And he’s very good at it.” Jared got his training through Project SEARCH, but not at the clinic. Cindy Burns, community employment supervisor for Coastal Center for Developmental Services, provides placements and long-term support. She was actually a patient at the clinic when, “I was able to identify a need the business had and placed Jared.” Spence agreed. “After meeting Jared, we fell in love with him. Jared brings the heart back to our clinic. All our other employees have good and bad days. But Jared is always excited to be here. He really gets to know the staff and is interested in us. My six- year-old son calls him Uncle Jared. Jared loves root beer and usually brings one for me to take home to my son about once a week.” “Due to the Project SEARCH partnership, we’ve been able to work together for these individuals to get jobs they wouldn’t ordinarily be able to get,” says Burns. “We’ve been able to get to know them and teach them aspects of a job, and that makes my job easier because they are much more marketable.” Jared himself says what he likes best about his job is, “cleaning the instruments and working with the people.” Last year, he got to join in the fun of Halloween. The whole staff wore costumes and Jared showed up as a monk. When he’s not at the clinic, he enjoys “playing computer games on the Internet and going grocery shopping with [his] parents.” High on the grocery list? “Popcorn and cheese puffs,” which probably explains the need for the root beer. It’s at the clinic, though, where he really shines. “Jared does an exceptional job for us,” says Spence. And that not only means with the surgical instruments, but in other ways as well. “He’s expanded our happiness.” Which really is an art form unto itself as well. Jessica Sell Every once in awhile, a person and an organization are just made for each other. The Children’s House at St. Joseph in Candler and Jessica Sell fit that description perfectly. Jessica did a Project Search internship at the daycare center, and it was love at first sight. “I knew from the beginning she was going to be great,” says Nancy Perkins, co-director of the center. “Her natural warmth with children and how she cared for them came through immediately.” Hired full-time in December 2009, Jessica has continued to take care of the young infants the same way she always did. “I change diapers, I play with the babies, feed them.” And one of her favorite things to do is make them smile. “I sing to them, read to them, and I even dance with them sometimes. All of them smile, and they’re very happy.” One time, though, it was a baby making Jessica laugh. “She was scooting around on her butt,” she says, with a slight giggle still in her voice at the memory. Seeing Jessica interact with the children is what caught the staff’s attention. “A child will always respond positively to someone showing them love,” says Perkins. “And Jessica has a natural ability to convey a lot of love to our children.” In addition, “She’s very quiet, efficient and dependable, a reliable and conscientious worker.” Jessica even takes her skills home with her. “I like to play with my four-year-old nephew. I see him every day. We watch movies. (He likes Thomas the Train; she likes The Secret Garden.) She also enjoys the laptop computer she bought with her own money. “I like to play Farmville on Facebook,” she says. Perkins also reports that Jessica works with older people as well as the younger ones. “She just gets along well with others. She has a nice sense of humor, and that’s especially needed with children.” It was that innate talent to get along with everyone that really caught the attention of those who now work with Jessica. She was given very high recommendations during her internship and while she volunteered and that was really what caused the center to hire her. The kids who stop by the infant room all call her “Miss Jessica.” And as Perkins says, the staff just calls her, “a blessing and an asset.” Marty Cromartie At Coffee Regional Medical Center, each of the pizzas has exactly 36 pepperonis on them. Well, that’s if Khiry “Marty” Cromartie makes the pizza. Thomas Maslowski, Marty’s supervisor in the Food and Nutrition Department, said Marty asked him the first time he made a pizza how many pepperonis it should have on it. “I told him about 36 or so,” says Maslowski. “And from that time on, every pizza has consistently had exactly 36.” Maslowski says that’s really a perfect example of how Marty handles all of the jobs given to him. “He keeps a journal and is very meticulous with it. That helps him when he’s stocking the doctors’ and nurses’ lounges with over 60 different items.” Marty himself says he likes making the pizzas best. “That’s been my favorite job.” And while he likes his own pepperoni pizza, “The meat lovers pizza is the one most people like best.” Away from work, Marty likes to make CDs. “I did some for the people I work with,” he said. And what music does he like to listen to? “I like rap. I like to listen to Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. They’re cool.” In talking with Marty, you can feel his self-confidence and pride in his work. His mother says that’s really a result of Project Search. “Before, he was very shy and introverted,” says Gloria Cromartie. “It seemed like there were limitations put on him at school. But at Project Search, he was told ‘if you can believe it you can do it.’ Now, he’s making friends; he’s an usher at church; he’s driving his own car and becoming more conscious of who he is and less conscious of what people dictate to him.” Even his nickname came from Project Search. “There were two boys in the program,” says Cromartie, “one named Kiera and one Khiry. So to avoid confusion, they started calling Khiry ‘Marty.’ It stuck and now everybody at work calls him ‘Marty.’ Even I’m starting to call him that,” she says laughing. Maslowski concurs with Cromartie that Marty has developed his self-confidence. “He’s come out of his shell. Everybody likes him; his work ethic is excellent; and he’s never missed a day of work.” And he’s never made a pizza without 36 pepperonis on it. Joanna Abundes You know how it is around 3:00 or 3:30 every afternoon when you start to drag a little and it seems like all your energy is zapped? Well, if you need a pick-me-up, you might try spending that time of day with Joanna Abundes. She gets the giggles around then. And her supervisor, Stephanie Causbey, says it’s contagious. “We all know it’s that time again after Joanna has had her piece of candy for a snack.” Joanna works in the Health Information Management department at the Atlanta Medical Center. Jennifer Buzbee from Briggs and Associates says Joanna’s Project Search internship was actually done at Emory. But, unlike most participants in the program, she was hired for a part-time post at AMC that became full-time last February. Joanna says that full-time position has now allowed her to get her own apartment. And how does she like it? “I love it,” she says. Having overcome many obstacles in her life, she now says, “Just the opportunity to be myself in my own apartment is one of the best parts. I like to organize and decorate places and make them look nice.” And, as she reports, “Everybody says my apartment looks nice.” Her main job at the medical center is to prep discharge charts for patients. “I make sure the information matches with the patients I’m working with. Lots of detail things. Then it goes over to the scanners so they can put them in the system.” In addition, “Joanna interviews moms on the weekend,” says Causbey. She’s bilingual and helps with the Hispanic population. She talks to the new mothers about the baby’s name, their marriage status, the father, all the information that goes on the work sheet to complete the baby’s birth certificate.” And she’s well suited to that work because, “She just has a wonderful personality. She relates well with the patients and staff, always smiling, always trying to help.” Sounds like Joanna really doesn’t need that candy every afternoon to make her enjoyable to be around. But it is probably fun to see her get the giggles. Bradley Schipper “Bradley is an awesome person, always willing to go above and beyond, and he’s definitely a part of the team.” That’s the thumbnail assessment of Bradley Schipper by Clanfort Robinson, assistant director of Environmental Services at the Northeast Georgia Health System, and Bradley’s supervisor. “He’s been with us full-time now for about six months or so,” say Robinson, “and I wish we had more like him. He leads by example, he has a can-do attitude, and he’s a model co-worker.” Bradley works in many different areas of the department…patient care and non-patient care, cleaning the room and discharge. He makes sure the break rooms, lobbies, the first impression areas look good. And he helps remove medical waste from the facility. To hear Bradley describe it, “I am a housekeeper. (When the patients are discharged) I go around and clean the floors, clean the rooms, clean the restrooms, get all the germs out of there. It takes about 30 minutes per room.” “I have a great job here,” Bradley says. “We all like each other very much and our priority is to make sure we get our patients in and out and make them feel better.” Bradley actually had another job before this one. He worked at Chick-fil-A. And he’s still loyal. When he’s not working, he likes to hang out with his church buddies and says, “We always go to Chick-fil-A to eat.” That previous experience served him well because just after his first Project Search rotation at the Health Center, he was hired. At that time, he was in the Sterile Processing department. “We would sterilize the instruments before they went up to the surgery room,” Bradley says. “We had to make sure they were all cleaned and processed.” Environmental Services liked what they saw of his work there and asked him to transfer into their department. And that great work ethic continues today. As Robinson says, “Bradley has the aptitude and willingness to do any job put before him. As I said, he is an awesome person, definitely part of the team.” Wendy Cruz Hopefully, you won’t ever need the services of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s emergency room. But, if you do, there are at least two things you can count on… outstanding care and the smiling face of Wendy Cruz. As a patient care tech, Wendy is often one of the first caregivers patients see in the ER. June Fletcher, Wendy’s supervisor and mentor, says Wendy’s job includes, “transporting patients, assisting the nurses with tasks, and getting vital signs.” She’s also responsible for making sure her area in the ER is always stocked with the necessary supplies. After completing her rotations through Project Search, Wendy was offered a full-time job in July. “I like working with the patients, and making them feel like they are being treated very well,” she says. “But what I like best is meeting new people every day. There’s always new faces and (she says with a smile in her voice) new drama.” She really enjoys taking care of the patients, especially when she’s transporting them and gets a chance to talk. She says one of her favorite memories of being on the job was a patient she had just helped saying to her, “Wendy, don’t change.” Her ability to speak Spanish has already come in handy too. She says she uses her second language “almost every day. When people have a concern, I try and answer it.” Fletcher adds that her bilingual skill will be used even more once she completes a certification process. As with most hospital schedules, Wendy sometimes works long days and nights. She says her hours are “crazy,” but she likes it that way. “I’m not really a day person, so I like being here at night.” But no matter when she works, as Fletcher points out, “There’s always a smile on her face. She’s very courteous, always friendly, very caring with the patients and definitely very much a team player.” And if you’ve ever been in an emergency room, you know that’s exactly the kind of person you want taking care of you. For more information about how you can get involved with Project SEARCH, visit projectsearch.info. For more information about GCDD’s Real Communities Initiative, visit www.gcdd.org.