Presenters:

PACT is a is a collaborative effort between Second Start, Palo Alto Unified School District, and Veterans Health Affairs (VA) Hospital that focuses on career path training and internships for students with special needs. PACT is a year long program that combines classroom instruction with on the job training. The overall experience helps prepare students to obtain, maintain, and sustain meaningful employment.

Students are placed in internships based on their

interest in a specific career field and available internship

opportunities that closely relate to their field of interest.

Identify students (based on multiple factors that include: desire for work, level of interest, post-secondary needs, etc.)

Coordinate with PA and SS staff for enrollment and placement

Clear schedule obstacles to employment Transportation Provide access to classrooms Communication

Provide Teacher(s) and Job Coach(es) Liaison between VA, Student Supervisors,

School District, Parents Participation in IEPs On-Site student supervision Social Thinking instruction

Onsite Job Coaching and mentoring directly from VA supervisors

Instruction in building career portfolio and workplace

social thinking

Job Placement Assistance at the completion of the program

Customized internships based on student’s interest in a career

path

Placement occurs at VA

Job coaching and mentoring offered by PACT staff and VA

supervisors

Instruction and Training (Build career portfolio,

HIPPA training, Rules of Privacy awareness, and

any other specific training required)

Social Skills and Transferable Skills Instruction:

Prepares students for real world work environment.

Job Placement Assistance

Job Matching Job Placement Follow Up Services

Students receive training in: -HIPPA (Federal HIPPA Training) -Rules of Privacy and Information Security

Awareness -Specific job related training certifications

Sample Certificate

Click to access the list of all available VA learning University certified trainings

IT

Customer Service

Food and Nutrition

Guest Services

Dental

Nursing

Extended Care

Environmental Management System

General Medicine

Fire Safety Department

Environmental Safety

Infrastructure Safety

Web Development

Adaptive Sports

Water Sanitation Project

Physical Therapy

Occupational Therapy

Description of Each Internship at VA

1. Gym

2. VA PX

3. Meals

4. Scholarships

5. Paid Internships

6. Flexible schedule around academic schedule

Access to Some VA Employee Benefits

Department of Rehab clients with Schedule A certificate get access to non-competitive federal job postings. Only other people who can apply and be

considered for these job postings are:

1.VA employees for internal promotions

2.Veterans with 30 % or more war related disabilities

3.Veterans with no disabilities

Student names included and published on one of the largest

genomic research study being conducted in USA MVP Poster

Student was invited to attend a conference at Stanford about

extended care as a web developer’s assistant.

Code Red Training Presentation for the main hospital building:

Sample Student Work

Student Work published on VA Learning University Website

Sample Student Work

Video Clip

Greg Zieman

Director of Educational Services

Second Start Learning Organization

1325 Bouret Drive

San Jose, Ca 95118

Ph: (408) 979-8210 x 260

Email: gregz@secondstart.org

PAUSD. (2013). Palo Alto Unified School District. Retrieved from http://www.pausd.org/

Second Start Learning Disabilities Program. (2012). Second Start Learning Disabilities Program. Retrieved from http://www.pinehillschool.com/

VA Health Care. (Oct. 2013). VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Retrieved from http://www.paloalto.va.gov/

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Assignment Descriptions

Dental: Work in the dental department to organize dental internship applications in accordance with the Human Resources checklist, make copies of the application packet, send originals to the HR department. Create Intern files and file the copies within dental department administrative office. Track orders and file invoices by chronological order for dental lab equipment and other office supplies. Update all dental office forms and save them as PDF files as needed by the supervisor. Call to confirm, cancel or reschedule all appointments for the supervisor as directed.

Canteen: Greet and help customers as needed. Restock beverages and foods in the refrigerator as directed by the supervisor. Conduct an inventory of food items and inform supervisor of supplies that are running low. Manage the deli counter and make deli sandwiches/wraps according to customer orders during lunch hours. Break down salad bar and help clean the canteen at the end of the day as directed by the supervisor.

Research and Development: MVP Research: Work on the research compliance team to pull out the MVP participant HIPPA consent forms and fax them to the study headquarters in Boston, MA. Attach the fax report with confirmed four pages faxed and then file the participant application in the reports binder in chronological order by participation date.

DoD Research: Enter and save all patient interviews conducted by the DoD research coordinator into the research database as encrypted files. Also enter data for patient screening to determine if the patient is an appropriate research subject.

Fisher House: Manage the front desk, answer phone calls, and greet guests under supervision of the supervisor. Conduct inventory, organize, and/or restock breakfast items in the kitchen as directed by the supervisor. Issue and collect parking placards to guests during their stay at the Fisher House. Occasionally help special projects as directed by supervisor.

Retail: Greet and help customers as needed. Refrigerate beverages in the retail store. Stock other retail merchandise on retail store shelves as directed by the supervisor. Conduct an inventory of supplies and inform supervisor of supplies that are running low. Manage shipping and receiving database for the hospital retail shop as well as online army store under close supervision of the retail supervisor.

Web Development: Transcribe interviews conducted by extended care department with new resident students. Design new resident schedules update their assignments and supervisor information in the hospital database.

Conduct QA of videos: watch them to make sure that there are no bloopers, documentwho is in the videos and keep short notes of what the video is about and what the main points are.

Fire Safety Management: Look at various safety violation pictures taken by the green environmental program manager, assess the risk of each violation, and find the OSHA codes for each violation in the areas of health safety, environmental safety, electrical safety, personal protection, fire protection, site security, concrete operations etc. Collect meter reading and enter data of irrigation water consumed by the hospital every day. Plot the data on excel sheet to compare it with expected usage vs. actual usage.

IT: Work with IT technicians to troubleshoot technology related issues in various hospital departments. Install and update new software as needed. Network computers in various departments and install wifi as assigned by supervisor.

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