The 2023/24 Project SEARCH graduation took place in Naas General Hospital last week, where graduates gathering with friends, family and colleagues to celebrate the completion of the internship programme.
Project SEARCH is a unique collaborative initiative launched by Kare and Naas General Hospital in 2013, providing young adults with an intellectual disability the opportunity to gain hands-on work experience and pursue their career goals. Participants engage in a year-long internship programme based at the hospital that supports them to gain a broad range of skills and prepare them for the workforce.
The ceremony saw ten students graduate from this year's Project SEARCH programme. Each of the participants completed three rotations in the hospital, including in Cardiology, Maintenance, Central Decontamination Unit, On-Call, Medical Records, Computerised Tomography, Canteen and Outpatient Support.
One unique achievement of this year's cohort was the development of 'End of Life Care: How You May Feel When Someone Dies'. It is a short, simple booklet designed for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities to understand and discuss end-of-life care and death.
Project SEARCH and NGH received a 'Hospice Friendly Hospitals Quality Improvement Award' from the Irish Hospice Foundation for this project, and the team achieved further recognition by presenting at the 2024 National Forum on End-of-Life at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and being shortlisted to present at the Spark Ignite Awards.
The Project SEARCH model originated at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and now has program sites throughout the United States and the United Kingdom (DFN Project SEARCH). This initiative led by Kare and NGH is the first and only Project SEARCH model in the Republic of Ireland to date. Since its inception it has welcomed 116 students, with 72% securing paid employment upon program completion, significantly surpassing the national average employment rate for people with intellectual disabilities which is 6%.
Of this year's graduates, three students have already secured paid employment and four have secured a place on the Project OWL internship programme in the Houses of the Oireachtas. One graduate has chosen to progress to further education, and two are actively seeking employment with the support of Kare's Employment team.
Well done to all of this year's graduates. We look forward to watching your continued progress!
