{"id":89282,"date":"2026-03-30T07:58:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T13:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=89282"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:17:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:17:43","slug":"project-search-hospital-internship-young-adult-builds-job-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/project-search-hospital-internship-young-adult-builds-job-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspired by early caregivers, Aubriana builds job skills and confidence through UCHealth\u2019s Project SEARCH internship"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Aubriana
Aubriana Winters’ favorite pastimes include writing in her journals and spending time with her cat, Purrsie. She’s also getting great work experience as an intern at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs. Aubriana works four days a week at one of the registration desks as part of Project SEARCH, a school-to-work transition program for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Photo by Chuck Bigger, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aubriana Winters greets each person who walks up to the registration desk at the\u00a0UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central<\/a>\u00a0north entrance with\u00a0a big smile and a warm\u00a0question.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi, are you here to visit someone or for an appointment?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Aubriana,
Aubriana, holding her UCHealth badge, takes pride in her job at Memorial Hospital Central. She’s grateful for the chance to learn and work at the hospital that once helped her thrive. \u201cI love being able to help people in any way I can,” she said. Photo by Chuck Bigger, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the\u00a0answer is \u201cvisitor,\u201d\u00a0Aubriana\u00a0asks for an ID, prints\u00a0out\u00a0a badge\u00a0for them to\u00a0wear\u00a0and offers directions if they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know their way around the\u00a0large, circuitous\u00a0hospital.<\/p>\n

If they are\u00a0patients who are coming for\u00a0appointments, she refers them to a\u00a0nearby colleague\u00a0who checks them in.<\/p>\n

For Aubriana, the chance to work as an intern at Memorial Hospital Central is a dream come true \u2013 and a full-circle moment for a woman who was a patient in the Memorial Neonatal Intensive Care Unit 19 years ago.<\/p>\n

Aubriana suffered a stroke during birth and, as a result,\u00a0sometimes\u00a0has difficulties with comprehension,\u00a0memory\u00a0and processing.\u00a0Now,\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0thrilled to work\u00a0with\u00a0Project SEARCH,<\/a>\u00a0a UCHealth program\u00a0where\u00a0young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities\u00a0learn job and life skills.<\/p>\n

“I love everything\u201d about working at the hospital, Aubriana said during a recent shift. \u201cI love being able to help people in any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Project SEARCH internship provides class time and on-the-job training for young adults\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Project SEARCH is a school-to-work transition program for young adults aged 18 to 21. The emergency department director at Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital Medical Center\u00a0started Project SEARCH in 1996<\/a>,\u00a0seeing the need for employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n

\"Aubriana
Aubriana greets every patient or visitor with a smile and helps them find their way through Memorial Hospital Central. Her Project SEARCH internship includes shifts at one of the registration desks as well as classroom time where she learns job and life skills. Photo by Joanna Bean, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, there are more than 800 Project SEARCH sites around the world. UCHealth leaders launched Project SEARCH in 2017, with programs now at Memorial Hospital Central, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a>,\u00a0UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital<\/a>,\u00a0UCHealth Greeley Hospital<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital<\/a>\u00a0in Fort Collins.\u00a0Dozens of young adults have\u00a0participated\u00a0in\u00a0UCHealth\u2019s Project SEARCH programs and\u00a0transitioned into meaningful employment.<\/p>\n

The program at Memorial Hospital Central runs from August through May in partnership with Academy\u00a0District 20<\/a> in Colorado Springs. Students who\u00a0participate\u00a0in Project SEARCH\u00a0work four days a week. They spend about 10 hours per week in a classroom learning life skills such as time management and conversational skills, and about 16 hours per week working in various hospital departments.<\/p>\n

During the program, they learn job skills and valuable habits like showing up on time and speaking up when they need help. Project SEARCH leaders, including Sarah Benavides, who runs the program in Colorado Springs, want to ensure that students can secure \u201ccompetitive, integrated employment\u201d upon graduation from Project SEARCH. That means getting a job that is part of an employer\u2019s larger workforce and earning the same wages as similar positions from a public applicant pool. And when possible, she loves to hire Project SEARCH graduates for UCHealth jobs.<\/p>\n

\u2018Miracle baby\u2019 now hopes for a career in the hospital where she spent time as a newborn\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Aubriana\u00a0hopes to work\u00a0in health care\u00a0after she graduates from Project SEARCH\u00a0this spring.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s at Memorial Hospital Central, after all, where Aubriana became a patient not long after her birth on Sept. 28, 2006, at a smaller hospital in Colorado Springs. Aubriana\u2019s mother, Alexandra Gromko, said she knew something was wrong with her firstborn after an 18-hour labor. She saw that her baby was blue, with the umbilical cord wrapped twice around her neck, and she didn\u2019t cry.<\/p>\n

\"Aubriana\u2019s
Aubriana\u2019s mother, Alexandra Gromko, right, remembers praying fiercely when her daughter was a newborn and fought for her life in the NICU at Memorial Hospital Central more than 19 years ago. Now, she’s proud to see Aubriana building skills through Project SEARCH at that same hospital. Photo by Chuck Bigger, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Medical providers called for an ambulance to rush Aubriana to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Memorial Hospital Central, where doctors described her as the sickest baby in the unit, Gromko recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was hooked up to every machine imaginable,\u201d Gromko said.<\/p>\n

The doctors and nurses warned Gromko that her baby might not survive. They pledged to do everything possible to save Aubriana and encouraged Gromko not to lose hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were so amazing in how they cared for her,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u00a0had a game plan and made Aubriana a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gromko visited her baby every day. One day after leaving the hospital, she stopped at St. Mary\u2019s Cathedral\u00a0in downtown Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knelt, and I prayed and prayed and prayed, the most fierce prayers I\u2019ve ever said: \u2018Please let her live. Send a legion of angels and let her live.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Aubriana\u2019s condition\u00a0began\u00a0to improve, and doctors told\u00a0Gromko that\u00a0her infant\u00a0was\u00a0a miracle baby.<\/p>\n

After\u00a012 days\u00a0in the\u00a0NICU,\u00a0Aubriana\u00a0appeared to be\u00a0having\u00a0seizures,\u00a0and her medical team ordered an MRI.\u00a0Doctors\u00a0told Gromko that her baby suffered from\u00a0hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy,\u00a0or a stroke,\u00a0caused by a lack of oxygen and blood\u00a0flow\u00a0to the brain before, during or after birth.<\/p>\n

Due to the stroke,\u00a0Aubriana\u2019s medical team told her mom that she\u00a0was likely to face disabilities throughout her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found out she had a stroke, but what did that mean?\u201d Gromko\u00a0said. \u201cThat started the journey we were about to embark on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"After
After learning that Aubriana suffered a stroke at birth, her mom enfolled Aubriana in a variety of therapies and activities, including piano lessons, to help her recover. She and her mother still enjoy playing together. Photo by Chuck Bigger, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gromko\u00a0found a pediatrician who\u00a0told her to watch for milestones in\u00a0her\u00a0baby\u2019s development \u2013 sitting up\u00a0unassisted, for example\u00a0\u2013 and\u00a0compare Aubriana\u2019s growth to a more typical\u00a0baby.\u00a0He\u00a0also told her to \u201cnever give up hope\u00a0and\u00a0never leave any stone unturned.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Aubriana was three months old, Gromko started taking her for regular visits with physical and occupational therapists. Aubriana achieved important developmental milestones but was usually about a month or so delayed.<\/p>\n

At school in\u00a0Academy\u00a0District 20, Aubriana had an individualized education plan, or IEP,\u00a0detailing\u00a0the support services she needed\u00a0in school.\u00a0A counselor at her high school recommended Aubriana apply to Project SEARCH after\u00a0she finished\u00a012th\u00a0grade.<\/p>\n

Aubriana was \u201cover the moon\u201d when she was accepted, Gromko said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking in health care has been her dream for many years,\u201d\u00a0Aubriana\u2019s mom\u00a0said. \u201cLiterally,\u00a0this was a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of her Project SEARCH internship, Aubriana works with\u00a0Benavides and coworkers on strategies to overcome\u00a0her deficits with memory and processing\u00a0challenges.\u00a0For example,\u00a0Aubriana\u00a0memorized how other staff members at the registration desk greet patients and\u00a0visitors and\u00a0now\u00a0uses\u00a0the same wording.<\/p>\n

\"When
When Aubriana found out she was accepted into the Project SEARCH program at Memorial Hospital Central, she was “over the moon,” her mom said. \u201cWorking in health care has been her dream for many years.” Photo by Chuck Bigger, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A hospital offers\u00a0many\u00a0career options beyond health care\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Four interns are in this year\u2019s Project SEARCH cohort at Memorial Hospital Central. Each week, the students ride an Academy District 20 bus to an administrative center one mile from the hospital, where they meet as a class for an hour with an Academy District 20 teacher. The interns identify their strengths, explore their career interests, and discuss barriers they could face in jobs.<\/p>\n

On a recent Tuesday,\u00a0Aubriana and her fellow interns\u00a0created resumes and\u00a0learned how to look for job openings on online job search boards.\u00a0They talked about\u00a0the types of job titles they should search for, and where\u00a0they\u00a0might like to work.\u00a0On the white board in the room, the teacher spelled\u00a0out different words they might use on a resume, just below\u00a0an inspiring\u00a0message:\u00a0\u201cRejection is Redirection.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

To apply to Project SEARCH, students must be: <\/strong><\/h4>\n