Each day that Nate Leder reports to work, he brings with him a sense of infectious joy. His enthusiasm and work ethic positively impact the whole team within the pharmacy department at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton.
“Nate is a ray of sunshine. He’s always got a smile on his face,” says Allison Russell, Nate’s leader and Pharmacy Distribution Supervisor for ThedaCare. “He’s just a pick-me-up.”
Nate, who works as a non-certified pharmacy technician, came to his role through Project SEARCH. A program through Goodwill North Central Wisconsin (NCW) and other partners, Project SEARCH offers employment training for people with disabilities.
“It’s a worldwide, nine-month work skills training program that’s aimed at helping support individuals who have barriers to employment,” says Kailey Colwell, a Mission Team Leader at Goodwill NCW.
‘Part of the Team’
Throughout his experience in Project SEARCH, Nate worked in a couple of departments at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton. In addition to working in pharmacy, he tried out jobs within the hospital’s lab and cardiovascular special procedure area (CSPA).
When it came time to choose what he wanted to do, the answer was clear to Nate. His mom, Katy, is a long-time physical therapist with ThedaCare. Watching her example helped Nate realize he also wanted to care for others. He says he’s proud that he and his mom are now part of the same team.
“My mom is caring for patients, so I wanted to do the exact same thing,” Nate says. “My mom kind of helps make patients recover from their injuries, while I just get stuff ready for patients who have been injured.”
Russell says Nate’s positive attitude and skills helped him land a permanent opportunity within ThedaCare. Two months after graduating from Project SEARCH in May 2024, he joined the ThedaCare Pharmacy team.
“I went to my boss, Cindy, and said, ‘We have to hire Nate,’” Russell recalls. “He’s a good worker, and we need to make room for him. She said yes because she’s ‘Team Nate’ for sure, and so we made it happen.”
Growth and Independence
Colwell says Nate has come a long way.
“When Nate started in Central Pharmacy, he was a little shy and nervous,” she says. “He really struggled to interact with peers, interact with coworkers, and ask for help. Watching him go from an intern here at the hospital to now being an employee has just been really great.”
Cindy Kissack, a Pharmacist and Manager of Pharmacy Operations for ThedaCare, says it’s been gratifying to watch Nate’s progress.
“He has definitely grown in his independence and ability to perform tasks on his own,” she says.
When Nate started out in Project SEARCH, he did all of his work with the help of a job coach. Today, he still works alongside a coach for some of his duties, but other parts he does on his own.
“I just like helping people a lot, and also making patients feel better,” Nate says.
Important Work
Prepping pop-ons was Nate’s first job in the pharmacy, and it remains his favorite.
“Pop-ons are so important in pharmacy and in nursing, because it’s a bag of saline that gets popped on to a vial of medicine,” Russell says. “Once those two are mixed together, they’re hung on an IV pole and then infused into the patient.”
Nate’s responsibilities have continued to expand. They now include outdating — writing expiration dates on medications — and delivering meds to Pyxis machines throughout the hospital. Russell likens them to “sophisticated vending machines for medications.”
“He has about three floors that he delivers to,” Russell says. “He needs a job coach to come with him for this task because it’s pretty intricate work, but he’s very good at it.”
‘Helps Us So Much’
Amanda Paton, a Certified Pharmacy Technician with ThedaCare, works alongside Nate. She says that to an outsider, the scope of Nate’s role might look small. But to the team, his work makes a big difference.
“It’s a huge help. Delivering to the floors when we’re getting crazy, we always have Nate saying: ‘I’m ready. Let’s go. I can do this,’” she says.
From his can-do attitude to greeting everyone by name to the ice-breaking jokes he makes during team huddles, Paton says Nate uplifts those around him.
She relates one of her favorite stories. One day, she and Nate needed to go to the emergency department to make some deliveries.
“I said, ‘Why don’t you badge in here and see if your badge works for the ER?’ It worked, and his reaction was so great,” she says. “We walked down that hallway, [and he said to everyone] ‘I can help the doctors and the nurses in the ER now.’”
One of Many
Thanks to the partnership between ThedaCare and Goodwill NCW, many Project SEARCH graduates have experienced successes similar to Nate’s.
Each September, ThedaCare welcomes eight to 10 class participants into ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton. In late May 2025, the program graduated its fourth class.
Program participants become fully ingrained in the ThedaCare mission of providing high-quality care to patients and communities, says Dale Gisi, Senior Vice President of the ThedaCare Central Region.
“We build relationships with them. We teach them marketable skills — job skills and social skills,” he says. “They become part of our family, and we grow with them.”
“ThedaCare has really helped support the program in more ways than partnering with us to host the program here,” Goodwill NCW’s Colwell says. “They’ve also hired multiple graduates from the program. We’re seeing them grow through meaningful work throughout the whole hospital, and I just think that’s really great.”
Bright Future
As for Nate, Russell says she looks forward to continuing to work with him. She hopes his story will inspire others to welcome Project SEARCH grads onto their teams.
“Nate has taught me to be happy every day. The bad stuff just doesn’t matter,” she says. “If you put a smile on your face, if you physically smile, your whole body changes. When Nate walks in the door, I physically smile, and I feel better.”
Inspiring stories are all around us. Visit our lifeinspired Hub for more. https://thedacare.org/category/inspired-stories/
