USA Health Magazine: Finding their place

By Michelle Ryan-Day
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This story was originally featured in the Fall 2025 edition of the USA Health magazine.  

Care and compassion have been the cornerstone of USA Health Providence Hospital for more than 170 years of serving Mobile and the Gulf Coast community. So, it seems only fitting that Project SEARCH is part of its legacy.

The program challenges expectations and empowers young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through immersive internships and hands-on training, often their first chance at competitive employment.

Mark Singleton, assigned to the Beth M. Rouse Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, approaches his job cleaning equipment with detail and enthusiasm. “I’m ready to go to work,” he told his trainer and mentor, Christine Wells, a special education teacher with Mobile County Public Schools.

Singleton is part of a new class of interns who arrived at the hospital this summer, the program having been on hiatus during the pandemic. Providence is one of two Mobile job sites, along with PCH Hotels & Resorts.

“I have never felt more fulfilled as a special education teacher than to watch the interns gain skills for employment,” Wells said. “They’re learning confidence, teamwork, communication, adaptability and problem-solving.”

Supported by Mobile County Public Schools, Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, Vocational Services, and Volunteers of America, interns are placed in departments across the hospital, including food and nutrition, patient transport, rehab services, housekeeping, sterile processing, nursing support and maintenance.

“When the interns first come to us, some of them are shy,” said Tonja White, USA Health workforce development director. “By the end of the first semester, they’re confident, they’ve made friends, and they know what they’re doing. That’s what’s so rewarding.”

Since 2011, Project SEARCH Mobile has been changing lives. The internationally recognized program, launched in 1996, operates in 48 states and eight countries. Students and families apply to participate. At Providence, interns learn professional development skills and hospital policies in the classroom, then practice them on-site with support from Wells and job coaches Nikita Vidic and Milton Todd.

“What Project SEARCH does is give the interns the skills needed to gain employment inside our organization or in the community,” White said. “Those skills can help them gain independence at home as well.”

The program’s impact is backed by research. A 2015 study in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation found participants were more likely to secure competitive jobs than peers in traditional programs. A 2018 study reported employment rates as high as 70% for graduates — well above national averages. Locally, many alumni work in grocery stores, hotels, schools, and retail outlets. Some have even returned to Providence as employees, a testament to the program’s success there.

“The program helps the interns to communicate more effectively and gain the confidence they need to help them to be successful in the workplace. Of course, we want to help them to develop all the skills they will need to do their jobs, wherever they land,” White said. “It’s such rewarding work.”

The program year ends with a graduation ceremony attended by families, staff mentors, and community leaders, including state and local representatives and school system administrators, who come to celebrate the interns and their accomplishments.

“Parents want what we all want — for our children to grow up, work, have some independence, and find their purpose in life,” Wells said. “Each time one of our Project SEARCH interns achieves this goal, I truly feel blessed that our team was a small part of the dream.”

The return of the program allows Providence to serve others once again by helping the interns develop life-changing skills they can take anywhere.

For White, that has special meaning. Having a sister with special needs and working at the Albert P. Brewer Developmental Center, a former local facility for individuals with developmental disabilities, she knows the impact Project SEARCH can have on the interns and their families.

“We want them to see there is so much more they can achieve,” she said.