Texas Children’s Health Plan insures the medical needs of some of the sickest children. But what happens when these children grow up healthy and are ready to contribute to society?
For most members, this isn’t an issue. However, for children who have significant disabilities, this is a top concern.
This concern is what sparked Texas Children’s Health Plan to form a partnership with Project Search, a national organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities find employment. Project Search makes it possible for an annual class of interns to earn valuable work experience each year.
Seeking new opportunities at Texas Children’s Hospital
For the past three years all of those internships have been within the walls of The Health Plan. But this year the program’s leaders are looking to offer more opportunities at Texas Children’s Hospital.
“Our main goal is to ensure that our students complete their time with us and are able to land a job,” said Aracely Olmeda, project search program coordinator. “As the host site, we work hard to teach hands-on skills here at The Health Plan, but we are also interested in expanding our offerings and would love to partner with departments at the hospital. The more robust and inclusive an experience we can provide, the higher quality our program will be.”
The class of interns are ready to work and are capable of a variety of tasks; including but not limited to:
- Data entry and other basic computing
- Filing and organizing
- Food service
- Front desk responsibilities
Olmeda says that Houston Independent School District instructor Lisa Mangum and Texas Workforce Commission job coach and job skills trainer Daphne Wills, lead the efforts and offer full support to Texas Children’s employees who provide opportunities to the interns.
If your department is interested in partnering with a project search intern, please reach out to Aracely Olmeda at anolmeda@texaschildrens.org. Job coaches will train the students on the skills needed for the position.
Want to know more about project search?