LRMC was recently recognized by Governor Charlie Crist for its participation in Florida Disability Mentoring Day 2009. Five departments from LRMC participated, including Food Service, Environmental Services, Central Supply, Medical Library and the Volunteer Dispatch Office.
Disability Mentoring Day is a nationally coordinated job shadowing opportunity for students and jobseekers with disabilities. This year there were 106 mentees, and the program in Polk County has steadily grown each year since its inception.
National Disability Mentoring Day (NDMD), sponsored by the American Assocaition of People with Disabilities (AAPD), begain in 1999 as part of a White House effort to increase the profile of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, celebrated every October. It is a national partnership between the AAPD and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.
NDMD was patterned after other school-to-work activities, such as National Groundhog Job Shadow Day, and began with just three dozen student participants, mostly in Washington, D.C.
This was the second year LRMC has participated in the program.