Etowah County Project SEARCH will hold an Open House on Tuesday, November 27 at Gadsden Regional Medical Center. The event will be held from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m in the 500 Building Conference Room.

Project SEARCH is a unique business-led transition program for young adults ages 18-24 who are currently experiencing life with a disability. It provides individuals who want to work a chance to explore careers and develop transferable job skills through an internship at Gadsden Regional Medical Center (GRMC) in Gadsden, AL. Project SEARCH places young adults in real-world situations where they learn all aspects of gaining and maintaining a job. This process of immersion facilitates the teaching and learning of new work skills on a real job-site.

Applications for prospective interns are distributed in Oct. and are due at the end of Jan. Potential candidates will be assessed by the Project SEARCH Team in March. The selected candidates will be notified in April and will attend a “Project SEARCH Boot Camp” in June. The boot camp is structured to acclimate the interns to the hospital and to complete hospital pre-employment paperwork.

The 9 month internship begins in August and ends in May of the following year. Each Intern completes up to three rotations in three different departments in the hospital. The interns start applying for employment around the end of their second rotations. Most interns are employed by graduation in May. However, if they are not employed by graduation they are still eligible to receive our services throughout the summer. Every intern that completes the program receives a certificate of completion from Project SEARCH, an OHSA Certification, Work Keys Certification, & a CPR/BLS Certification.

*Project SEARCH Applications can be obtained by emailing christysmith-projectsearch@hotmail.com or projectsearchetowah@gmail.com*

Here is a list of Employers who have hired Project SEARCH interns:

• Academy Sports and Outdoors
• America’s Thrift Store
• Belk
• Morrisons Healthcare (GRMC Cafeteria)
• Gadsden Public Library (City of Gadsden)
• McGuffey Healthcare
• Sodexo (Gadsden State Community College)
• The City of Gadsden
• Dirt Cheap
• Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center
• WalMart
• H&R Block