10/28/2001 12:00:00 AM
WHEATON, Illinois – Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital announced today that AbilityLinks, the advocacy program to expand career opportunities for people with disabilities and help employers tap into this large pool of skilled and loyal workers, was awarded “Best of the Best” by the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (IARF) at the 26th annual IARF/ICAN conference and trade show.
The main feature of AbilityLinks is its Web site, www.abilitylinks.org, which allows job seekers to post resumes and search for jobs and allows employers to post job openings and search for qualified candidates. In addition, the Web site, which was inaugurated in July, provides job seekers a wide range of job-related resources, links to important agencies and news about people with disabilities.
“In the few months since it was launched, AbilityLinks has been successful largely because of the dedication of the people, businesses and agencies that are behind it,” said Kathleen C. Yosko, Marianjoy’s president and chief executive officer. “This award confirms the fact that we are on the right track and filling a need in our community. We are honored to receive this recognition.”
Selection criteria for “Best of the Best” proposals at the conference included originality of idea, impact on the local community, creativity, uniqueness of a new approach to solving old problems, the applicability to rehabilitation service providers, whether or not the program or service can be duplicated and the overall quality, and clarity of the proposal or program.
According to IARF, AbilityLinks was awarded Best of the Best for “outstanding leadership and innovation in providing services to persons with disabilities.”
AbilityLinks was created because people with disabilities lacked comprehensive high-tech resources to match them with employers and vice versa. In addition, employers and potential employees had few resources to help them learn to work together. The program is supported by the AbilityLinks Consortium, a group of business and community leaders, social service agencies and people with disabilities.
In addition to the Web site, AbilityLinks programs include seminars like the AbilityLinks business seminar on job accommodations that was held in September at Wheaton-based Donka, Inc., which is a computer training lab and job placement resource and a consortium member. The seminar featured hands-on demonstrations of assistive technology software.
About Marianjoy Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital is a 120-bed hospital in Wheaton, Illinois that is dedicated to the delivery of rehabilitative medicine. Founded in 1972 by the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters, the hospital is part of Marianjoy’s network of care that manages more than 400 beds within the greater Chicago area. Throughout the network, Marianjoy provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services, including programs that assist patients with community re-entry, such as driver rehabilitation and return-to-work programs. The hospital and network are part of a ministry of the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters.