 |
| Project SEARCH® co-founder Susie Rutkowski (foreground, wearing vest and turtleneck) recently visited Southwestern Community College’s program site and interns at Harris Regional Hospital. Pictured with Rutkowski are, from left: Danielle Chambless, career readiness instructor and job coach at SCC; Dillon Ford, intern from Franklin; Matthew Jenkins, intern from Franklin; William Woodley, intern from Franklin; Brinda Thompson, intern from Cherokee; Leanna Fisher, intern from Bryson City; Devonne Jimison, SCC’s Project SEARCH® teacher; and Chris Shular, intern from Whittier. |
When Leanna Fisher was 18 months old, doctors said she’d never be able to read, write or function as a member of society. Recounting that difficult memory from her daughter’s childhood, Tammy Fisher’s eyes turned red, and her voice cracked a bit last month.
But as life turned out, the experts were wrong.
Looking around a corner last month, Tammy saw her daughter beaming in a hallway at Harris Regional Hospital - where Leanna is learning employability skills as a Project SEARCH® intern through Southwestern Community College. A joyful smile crept across the thankful mother’s face.
“We love Project SEARCH®; it’s been a real blessing in our lives,” said Tammy Fisher, who lives in Bryson City. “There’s a maturity in (Leanna) that she didn’t have in the past.”
Success stories like that never get old for Susie Rutkowski, Project SEARCH®’s co-founder who was visiting SCC’s program site on the day Tammy Fisher shared her daughter’s story.
Rutkowski and Erin Riehle launched the first non-profit Project SEARCH® program in 1996 at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center with the simple goal of helping people with developmental disabilities cultivate the skills they need to find and maintain employment.
Southwestern’s program is one of more than 300 Project SEARCH® sites across the country.
“As a society, we never ask people with disabilities what they want to be,” Rutkowski said. “We ask everyone else in society about their goals and dreams, but we don’t do that with people who have disabilities. Our program is trying to change that.”
This semester, six interns are gaining marketable and transferrable employability skills while also attending classes daily through SCC. The yearlong program features a series of three different internships as well as employability classes taught on-site at the hospital.
Other community partners for Project SEARCH® are NC Vocational Rehabilitation, Smoky Mountain Center LME/MCO and Vocational Opportunities of Cherokee.
“Every day with our interns is so rewarding,” said Devonne Jimison, SCC’s Project SEARCH® teacher. “They brighten up my life with their gentle spirits and their excitement about this opportunity.”
And what about that 18-month-old girl who wasn’t supposed to ever be able to function in society? Leanna Fisher’s future is ripe with possibility at age 19. She carries on conversations easily, and completes her intern responsibilities admirably.
For the record, she’s also an avid reader.
“It’s overwhelming,” Tammy Fisher said. “It’s the answer to a prayer, the same prayer … For her to now be receiving such high-quality instruction and such a high level of support, it’s incredible. She’s attaining goals we would have never thought possible.”
For more information on WestCare’s Project SEARCH® program, contact Heather Allen, RN, BSN, Nursing Clinical Educator at 828.586.7886.
To learn more about SCC’s partnership with Project SEARCH®, or recruiting interns, contact Danielle Chambless, SCC Career Readiness Instructor/Job Coach (d_chambless@southwesterncc.edu or 828.306.7036) or Jimison (devonnej@southwesterncc.edu or 828.339.4486).
