Atlantic Health System marked 2024 with recognition for its continued, long-running efforts to helping young adults with disabilities discover abilities that will make them valued members of the workforce.
In Senate and General Assembly citations delivered this fall, New Jersey state legislators from Sussex, Morris, and Union Counties praised the accomplishments by the health care organization for championing the employment of workers with disabilities.
Since 2016, Atlantic Health System has partnered with Project SEARCH, an organization operated by state/county agencies that offers on-the-job training at companies and organizations to help interns with varying disabilities ages 18-21, to learn important job skills and develop their talents. Each day throughout the school year, the program provides the on-site classroom instruction, followed by rotating internship experiences where they work directly with department mentors in a direct, hands-on capacity.
The program began in Union County, at Overlook Medical Center, but has since expanded to Sussex County, at Newton Medical Center and Hackettstown Medical Center. The program has thus far graduated 87 young adults with disabilities, the majority of whom who have gone on to be hired by various companies and organizations, including 27 by Atlantic Health System itself.
“By partnering with the Union County Educational Services Commission and Sussex County Educational Services Commission for Project SEARCH, Atlantic Health System has not only been proud to help our interns discover abilities that will help them in the job market, but in turn, we have discovered and hired many valued team members who continue to apply their skills each day by supporting the services and experiences for our patients and visitors,” Armond Kinsey, vice president, chief talent and diversity officer for Atlantic Health System said.
“Atlantic Health System has been an incredible partner and host business to the Project SEARCH program here in New Jersey,” Josh Bornstein, director of Special Projects, for the Union County ESC’s Work Readiness Academy, said. “Not only has the organization engaged with us to provide meaningful and rigorous training for our interns, but it has also demonstrated a genuine commitment to inclusive hiring as evidenced by a willingness to see the productive value our students bring and offer paid employment to many of them across the system.”
As part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) in October on October 16, team members at Atlantic Health System’s Overlook Medical Center, Newton Medical Center and Hackettstown Medical Centers marked Disability Mentor Day by introducing this year’s Project SEARCH interns with mentors throughout the hospitals who gave them a preview of some of the areas of the hospital in which they would rotate.
Interns toured departments such as radiology, environmental services and clinical engineering, where Atlantic Health team members discussed the various responsibilities of those departments, and potential duties that the interns would fulfill in the coming months.
“These are well-deserved citations awarded to Atlantic Health System. The organization has fully embraced the special needs community throughout Sussex County,” John O’Hara, supervisor for Project SEARCH at Newton Medical Center and Hackettstown Medical Center said. “Atlantic Health System offers internships through Project SEARCH with the possibility of gainful employment throughout various Atlantic Health establishments upon graduation. The hired interns are already well-versed in their roles and don’t miss a beat in their new jobs.”
