It’s that time of the year when summer break begins winding down, students get ready to go back to school and Project SEARCH welcomes new interns. For six young adults, it marks the start of something bigger than a job. It’s a chance to prove what they’re capable of. 

Project SEARCH began in 1996, when Erin Riehl, then director of the emergency department at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Susie Rutkowski helped build a hands-on training model preparing people with developmental disabilities to fill the hospital’s high-turnover, entry-level roles. The goal? A genuine commitment to hire them once trained. It was as much a statement as a strategy: real work, real training, real belief in what these employees could do. 

Decades later, that same premise was brought to Lawrence, where Project SEARCH has spent years transforming lives. Interns leave with transferrable occupational skills, personal growth, and, most importantly, a clear path to competitive employment. Three decades and hundreds of interns later, that belief still holds. 

“This year, on August 17, we will welcome six new interns to LMH Health, the maximum number the program can accommodate,” Becky Armstrong, LMH Health Project SEARCH coordinator, said. 

Spearheading professional opportunities 

Once these interns graduate in May 2027, the goal is to get a job that is competitive, which is earning what anyone in that job would be paid, and integrated, meaning this role is not just for a job site for those with disabilities. 

“Before Project SEARCH, the employment rate for people with disabilities was around 12%,” Armstrong said. “Now with Project SEARCH that employment rate is around 65%. And here in Lawrence, we have an incredible placement rate of about 85% locally post-internship.” 

Those are lives changed by one simple shift, an employer willing to take a chance. 

At LMH Health, there are a plethora of department rotations Project SEARCH interns are trained in, including materials management, central supply, education, facilities, admissions, therapy, food/nutrition, environmental services, patient floors and more recently, in the Cancer Center. 

“We flex departments and positions based on the intern’s preference and availability,” Armstrong said. “Each department will flex based on need and skill set, but one common theme among all departments, trainers and employees is the healthy and exciting culture change. The people working in these departments enjoy the mentorship piece even if our young people can have challenges to work through. It shakes up their work environment in a healthy way that helps them grow as leaders as well.” 

When interns join Project SEARCH, they are not guaranteed a job afterward. But among the many placements over the years, many have been hired at LMH Health. 

“What this program offers is a promise to coach and train these young professionals,” Armstrong said. “Host organizations do not have to employ them afterward, but the fact that so many have come through, been placed at a qualifying job locally, and of those, more than 17 being hired at LMH Health following their internship is pretty special.” 

Finding and retaining great talent 

Nowhere is that culture shift more visible than in the Facilities department, where one intern’s arrival left an impression nobody on the team fully expected. 

James Hightree, LMH Health Facilities manager, has had interns join his team before, but one intern left a lasting impact on Hightree and his whole team. 

“I got a message from Becky that we had an opportunity for a Project SEARCH intern named Jacob,” he said. “You see a little bit of everything in the Facilities department so at first I was a little reserved, wondering, is this something he would enjoy? Would he be a good fit for the team? But those concerns were very quickly blown out of the water when Jacob came onto the job site.” 

Hightree said if there is a picture-perfect person for the Facilities team, it is someone who wants to learn to be the jack of all trades – someone who wants to patch a hole in a wall but also learn how the HVAC system works. And most importantly, someone who wants to learn. 

“Jacob fit 100% of these qualifications,” he said. “He blew us away! His work ethic is impeccable. He listened, learned and absorbed everything we threw at him. He was a valued member of the team and even when we were getting dirty from plumbing issues, he hopped in with us, no complaints, and got the job done.” 

Though Jacob went on to get hired in another department at LMH, Hightree said the relationship he developed with the team is one that remains strong. But it was what happened outside of work that turned a good internship into an extraordinary story. 

Building lifelong relationships 

Jacob was more than just a member of the team. He became a friend. 

“We laughed, we had fun and when it came down to the hard stuff, Jacob was there helping and handing tools to the team and always on top of it,” Hightree said. 

There isn’t enough space to cover the stories that were shared and the lived experience the team had together, but maintenance mechanic Martin Powers and the members of the HVAC team – Sam Todd, Shane Lynn, Stuart Aiken and Rhett Myers – wanted to share just a glimpse of how amazing it was working alongside Jacob. 

“Jacob jumped in and cleaned out a really smelly clogged drain,” Powers said. “He showed no reservations in helping with the situation. But it was the one job that made him decide to not become a plumber!” 

“There isn’t just one story we can share,” the HVAC team said. “We can only try to truly convey how great Jacob was. He was turning wrenches and getting dirty. He helped install a rental chiller, worked on the computer automation system, installed copper piping on a cooling tower and so much more.” 

It’s the kind of list that reads like a resume but was told like a memory – proof of how fully Jacob became part of the crew. 

And past the hard work, the on-the-job memories and belly laughs, the team continued to show up for Jacob in his personal life as well. 

“Three of the maintenance staff, Jeff (Leihy), Sam (Todd) and Shane (Lynn), showed up to Jacob’s house to help him move into a new space in the Home Works community,” Armstrong said. “Because Home Works is a collaborative living environment that relies on its residents and community members to complete maintenance tasks, Jeff, Sam and Shane also repaired a lawnmower and helped with other needed tasks after they got Jacob all settled in.” 

Armstrong said this amazing team created an inclusive, welcoming environment daily while displaying an incredible amount of professionalism and integrity, giving Jacob one incredible experience with Project SEARCH. It’s a reminder that a job title only tells part of the story and the rest gets written in moments like these. 

More than an internship 

For Hightree, Project SEARCH is bigger than an internship. It’s a pipeline into trades that are struggling to attract young talent. 

“This program is also a great way to have youth learn new trades, electrical, HVAC, painting, drywall and so much more,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot of younger people coming into the trades, so anytime somebody shows interest, it’s important to help them see what it’s like.” 

That sense of responsibility runs deeper than staffing needs for Hightree. He sees mentoring interns like Jacob as something owed to the next generation, plain and simple. 

“It’s our duty as adults to help the younger generation,” he said. 

Armstrong sees that same spirit show up across every department they touch at LMH Health. What keeps her invested in the program isn’t just the placement numbers. It’s watching staff members become the interns’ biggest advocates. 

She said watching the program grow, and watching workplace champions emerge who get excited about it, has been one of the most rewarding parts of the job. Small ripples turn into bigger ones. 

That’s exactly what happened in Facilities. One good match didn’t just fill a role, it changed how an entire department sees what’s possible. 

A bright future 

That kind of transformation is what LMH Health is hoping to set in motion again this month as the new interns walk through the doors as the newest Project SEARCH cohort, ready to begin the same journey that once introduced Jacob to Facilities. 

They’ll rotate through departments across the hospital, build relationships they didn’t expect, and, if Jacob’s story is any indication, leave behind a team that was better for having known them, and, in the end, showcase what Project SEARCH has always been about: building community, one intern, one team, and one relationship at a time. 

Jessica Thomas is a Lawrence-based freelance writer covering health, wellness and community topics for LMH Health.