Latest news with #ProMedica
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Seven graduate in Monroe's Project SEARCH Class of 2025
MONROE — Ciara Ault had one busy year. During her time in the Project SEARCH program, she walked more than 500 stairs a day during one of her work rotations. She also learned the public bus system so she could get from Summerfield to Monroe. Now, she's starting a new job at Monroe's All Heart Athletics. For her hard work, Ault was named Project SEARCH's Class of 2025 Student of the Year during June 3's graduation ceremony at ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital. Ault and six other local students graduated from this year's program. Project SEARCH is an international education and training program for young adults with mild to moderate cognitive impairments. In Monroe, the 182-day program has been based at ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital (and its predecessor, Mercy Memorial Hospital) for the last 16 years. Previous Coverage: Project Search gives challenged adults job experience Students learn employment skills by working in various departments at the hospital and at other local businesses. Ault, for example, did rotations in the hospital's main lab and rapid infusion lab. 'I stocked supplies. I helped the patients feel more comfortable,' Ault said in her speech at the graduation ceremony. The students, sometimes called interns, also learn social and life skills in the classroom at the hospital. Many secure jobs right after graduation. During the June 3 graduation ceremony, Darrin Arquette, president of ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital, said many were impressed by this year's Project SEARCH interns. 'The work you've done here at the hospital is very important to us," Arquette said. "You made great impressions on all of our team and our patients here. Our staff comments on you all the time. I can't thank you enough for all your hard work this year." Sue Vanisacker from La-Z-Boy was the ceremony's keynote speaker. 'Graduates, this is what resilience looks like. You stepped into the professional world. You have grown so, so much. Every successful journey begins with one single brave step. It takes courage. You all chose to show up anyway and take meaningful steps forward for your future," Vanisacker said. "Project SEARCH is so much more than a program; it's a launchpad. Your potential is recognized and nurtured and now ready to take flight. You learned skills that matter in the real world." Like classmate Ciara Ault, Class of 2025 graduate Alexander Benac worked in several ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital departments, including a nursing floor, the dining room and the dish room. He stocked supplies and delivered water to patients. 'I made food in the kitchen and pizza for the cafeteria,' Benac said. He is currently interviewing for jobs. Graduate Justin Croy also worked on a nursing floor and in the kitchen and dining room. 'From Project SEARCH and the kitchen here at the hospital, I learned new things. With the new things, I'm working three days a week at Mason Jar Tap and Grill,' Croy said. Brianna Cumper's work in Project SEARCH included stocking medical supplies, making food and keeping the dining room organized. 'I make and pack 65 to 80 lunches on Mondays and Thursdays, and I make 36 mini pizzas every day. Project SEARCH has taught me that I really like to work," Cumper said. Next, she plans to take more classes at the Monroe County Intermediate School District's Transition Center. Ellie Easton worked in food and nursing departments at the hospital. 'I served customers in the dining room and worked the cash register. I enjoyed meeting new people and trying new things," Easton said. Now, she's working at Chick-fil-A in Toledo. Alex Johnson did rotations in the emergency room, cath lab and the dietary department. He made beds, ran a dishwasher and learned customer service skills in the process. 'My co-workers in the ER and cath lab, they made me feel like family," Johnson said. He was hired to be an aide for a preschool bus for the Monroe County ISD. 'I love all the kids on my bus. I like to keep them safe while they are on the bus,' Johnson said. During the summers, he'll work at McDonald's. Graduate Jamie Tice trained in the hospital's ambulatory and surgical areas. She stocked supplies and made beds. 'My favorite part about Project SEARCH was how patient and kind everyone is,' she said. Tice was hired to do custodial work at FEDCO. 'I love my job,' she said. Former Project SEARCH graduate Rowdy Milka also was hired recently by FEDCO. Founded in 1988 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Project SEARCH is now offered across the U.S. and in several other countries. 'There are now close to 800 sites, in 47 states and nine countries, serving just over 49,000 young adults with mild to moderate impairments. It's pretty amazing," said Lori Eshenroder, who has been the local Project SEARCH instructor since it started during the 2008-09 academic year. '(In Monroe), we have had 112 interns complete this program over 16 years, and 88 of those have jobs. We have a 77% placement percentage; the national average is 75%. The national average wage is $13.83; ours is close to $15 an hour," she said. "We were the second site to start in Michigan; we now have 20 sites in Michigan," Eshenroder said. "ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital is the longest-running site. Seventeen years ago, we approached the hospital about this idea. From the very start they were on board. We spent a year visiting Project SEARCH in Cincinnati.' Previous Coverage: 'Nominate a Teacher': Lori Eshenroder receives grant William Hite, principal of the Monroe County ISD's Educational Center, said Project SEARCH collaborates with many local agencies and businesses, including Michigan Rehabilitation Services, Goodwill Industries, Monroe County ISD and Monroe Community Mental Health Authority. Support local news: Subscribe for all the latest local developments, breaking news and high school sports content. Monroe's FEDCO was awarded the 2025 Business Advisory Council Partner of the Year honor. 'They embrace their employees as family. You guys make us feel part of the team. We are very grateful,' Eshenroder told FEDCO staff at the graduation ceremony. "Project SEARCH is about collaboration," Hite said. "It's the community coming together and supporting the students to reach the greatest level of success possible. These students could not ask for a better community to partner with." The Project SEACH Class of 2026 has been chosen. To learn more about the program, email Eshenroder at — Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@ This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Project SEARCH started here 16 years ago; learn about the 2025 class
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Adrian planning commissioners support housing development plan at former Bixby Hospital site
ADRIAN — The fate of a planned unit development in Adrian to transform the former ProMedica Bixby Hospital site into a residential housing community will go before the Adrian City Commission at next week's Monday, March 17 meeting on St. Patrick's Day. The city commission meets in downtown Adrian at Adrian City Chambers, 159 E. Maumee St., unless otherwise noted. Regular meetings start at 6 p.m. The commission will be tasked with reviewing a planned unit development (PUD) proposal that seeks to construct a housing community of 63 for-rent, market rate single-family homes, varying from one- to two-bedrooms. The proposed residential structures are not to be considered as low-income housing, it was clarified during last week's monthly meeting of the Adrian planning commission, which met March 4 to inspect the project's final development plan. The former Bixby Hospital was at 818 Riverside Ave., since June 1957 and across from the Adrian High School campus. It had been vacant since 2020 when it was shuttered and replaced by ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian Township. Initial talks about tearing down Bixby Hospital and constructing rental houses on the property began in January 2024 when real estate developer Michael Collier told the city commission, he secured a contract with ProMedica to redevelop the property and tear down the hospital. It took most of 2024, but in early December — and after a handful of meetings between Collier, his business partner Scott Gibson, and the planning commission — demolition started on the hospital. Bixby Hospital has since nearly been completely razed with demolition crews taking the building down in sections to offset noise for nearby residents. From December 2024: Demolition plans announced by ProMedica for vacant Bixby Hospital; demo work starts Dec. 5 Flint-based RJ Industrial Recycling is contracted with ProMedica and Collier and Gibson — who are partners in the real estate development firm — Collier-Gibson, a firm that focuses on creative adaptive reuse and ground-up development projects in the United States with a current concentration in the Midwest, to complete the demolition. Collier-Gibson specializes in hotels, multifamily units, office, industrial, retail, restaurants and self-storage projects. Being the third time the Adrian planning commissioners requested Collier-Gibson to come back with an amended development plan, it didn't take long at last week's meeting for the commissioners to give their final approval of the housing project. The PUD was unanimously approved by the planning commission in a 5-0 vote, albeit with two members absent from the meeting in Chad Johnson and Brian Watson. The approval came with a few minor contingencies that need to be addressed going forward: Providing the planning commission with a lighting diagram of the housing community. Providing a complete PUD development schedule/timeline. Providing a report in good terms about the project from the Lenawee County Drain Commission. Providing a notice of responsibility that the property owner will be responsible for all common grounds maintenance. Beaubien Companies Inc., in Adrian will be contracted for landscaping and maintenance work at the community to 'create common maintenance and continuity to the site,' Gibson explained. Any action taken by the planning commission is in the form of a recommendation to the Adrian City Commission, which has the final review and say of whether a project is ready for approval or needs to be sent back for additional work. 'As we have discussed time after time after time, this (housing proposal) addresses this to a great extent,' Planning Commission Chairman Mike Jacobitz said of the proposal providing housing options in Adrian. 'There's always the possibility that if that land lies fallow, who knows what becomes of it. Here's something that we have some control over and addresses an identified need.' The contingencies that were included in the final approval are 'relatively minor,' Jacobitz told The Daily Telegram, and have nothing to do with the housing concept itself. The Bixby Hospital property is currently zoned office/service. With an approval from the city commission at their March 17 meeting, it will be updated to planned unit development. PUD is almost an 18-month process for approval, Jacobitz said. A planned unit development requires the approval of both the planning commission and the city commission as it changes the ordinance and the zoning of a particular property. 'I like the plan. I think it's good. Obviously, we need housing in the city of Adrian so I'm very pleased to see you're moving forward with it,' Adrian City Commissioner and Planning Commissioner Gordon Gauss said during last week's meeting. Support local news and subscribe: For all the latest local developments, breaking news, and high school and college sports content. A handful of neighboring residents adjacent to the Bixby Hospital property approached the planning commission last week and raised a variety of concerns about the project including landscaping, how the development doesn't address missing middle housing in Adrian, traffic, population and property maintenance. Gibson said he expects there to be at least 150 people residing within the residential community. Ideally, and what makes the most sense, he added, is constructing all units at the same time. 'Presently, we are contemplating doing it in one shot,' Gibson said when asked by the planning commission if construction on the development will be completed all at once or in stages. 'It is possible that it could be done in two phases. We've looked at doing maybe 24 units and leasing those and then doing the balance, but that hasn't been finalized. We're entertaining both scenarios at present.' Wherever visual barriers are needed, those are being added, Gibson said addressing one of the landscaping concerns. More vegetation will be added to the site to ensure it is attractive and an enhancement. Julie Jungwirth, an Adrian resident on McKenzie Street, provided the most feedback for the planning commission at last week's meeting, saying she was 'at a loss' because of the lack of an open house, information or presentation about the housing development at the Bixby site. 'I don't think enough was done to present this,' she told the planning commission. From April 2024: Plans to build rental housing on former Bixby Hospital site continue According to Michigan statute, information about zoning changes will be notified to those who are within 300 feet around the parcel. Information about planning commission meetings, topics of discussion and presentation are published in a newspaper of regular circulation — like The Daily Telegram — and on the city of Adrian's website, Discussions of the Bixby redevelopment have been taking place at planning commission meetings for more than six months, Gauss responded. Over those six months, there have been at least three presentations by Collier-Gibson on the development, which the planning commission has requested additional information and adjustments to the plan nearly each time. 'This is not any big secret,' Gauss said. 'People have been asking when the hospital was going to come down, what was going to go there, and it's been clearly explained, but yet we are still getting questions like yours. But to say we're not being transparent; that's just not the case.' Now that the hospital has been leveled, residents should expect continued noise from concrete grinding, material sorting and hauling truck traffic, ProMedica said in a statement. Road closures should not be anticipated during the process. Demolition crews from RJ Industrial Recycling told The Daily Telegram they expect to be on pace with ProMedica's initial schedule of having all demo and debris removal activities completed by April. Briskey Brothers Construction from Tecumseh also is on site at the former hospital working alongside RJ Industrial Recycling to haul away scrap concrete. — Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@ or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LenaweeHeineman. This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian planning commission supports development at Bixby Hospital site
