Training in a hospital kitchen helps Congxiao land a new job
Photo above by Dan Pearce/Torstar
By Louise Kinross
When Congxiao Chang is reminded that she was quite shy when she started an employment training program at Holland Bloorview a year ago, it seems a distant memory.
“The people at my workplace are really nice and they are very supportive,” says the 21-year-old, referring to the new job she landed in August working with Sodexo Canada in a seniors’ home.
Congxiao was one of nine high school students with intellectual disabilities that participated in Project SEARCH Toronto, a 10-month skills training program that was hosted by Holland Bloorview and Toronto Rehab-UHN. Each day was a mix of classroom learning and work placements in the hospitals.
Project SEARCH began at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in 1996. “I think if we’re going to make a lot of money by providing their medical care and our mission statement is to ‘change the outcome,’ then for people with disabilities we should be training and hiring them just as we train and hire other people,” founder Erin Riehle told BLOOM in this 2014 interview. Project SEARCH now has over 600 sites around the world.
“It’s a strong program with great outcomes and is integrated with our strategic plan interest in being a model, inclusive employer,” says Carolyn McDougall, a Holland Bloorview occupational therapist who brought the groups together to make the Toronto program work.
That includes a Toronto District School Board high school teacher and two job coaches from Community Living Toronto.
Job placements at Holland Bloorview included registering outpatient clients and cleaning and sanitizing clinic rooms and our therapy gyms.
Congxiao says her favourite role was making pizza in the Sodexo kitchen that serves Holland Bloorview’s staff. “In the morning I made pizza and in the afternoon I did the cash register. I didn’t know how to use a cash register before. I also stocked the food in the fridge.”
Five out of the nine Project Search participants have found jobs so far—though not always at the number of hours they want, Carolyn says. Job hunting is tough during the pandemic, but the team is committed to 100 per cent employment for participants. When a student is hired, Community Living Toronto provides ongoing coaching support.
Congxiao now helps to prepare meals for seniors at St. Hildas Senior Care Community (see photo above). “I enjoy it very much.”
She says she’d like to continue working in a kitchen, eventually opening her own restaurant. “Maybe Indian food and Chinese food,” she says. “I love Chinese food.”
Ten new high school students are doing the program at Holland Bloorview and Toronto Rehab-UHN this year.
Toronto.com ran this story about the Project SEARCH Toronto program. In the photo below, Congxiao serves customers in Holland Bloorview's cafeteria.
