Not long ago, Nate Leder celebrated a couple of milestones: He graduated from an employment training program and then landed a position at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton.
His program support team and colleagues at ThedaCare continue to celebrate his impact.
In May of 2024, Leder graduated from Project SEARCH, a program coordinated by Goodwill North Central Wisconsin (NCW) and partners like ThedaCare. The program offers employment training for people living with disabilities. Thanks to support from the program, coupled with his own determination and grit, today, Leder is a non-certified Pharmacy Technician at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton.
“Nate is a ray of sunshine. He’s always got a smile on his face,” said Allison Russell, Pharmacy Distribution Supervisor for ThedaCare. “He’s just a pick-me-up with a positive, infectious attitude that spreads within our team.”
He’s also following in his mother’s footsteps. Katy Leder is a long-time physical therapist with ThedaCare. Watching her example helped Leder know he, too, wanted to care for others. He said he’s proud that he and his mother are colleagues.
“My mom is caring for patients so I wanted to do the exact same thing,” Leder said. “My mom kind of helps make patients recover from their injuries, while I get stuff ready for patients who have been injured.”
Throughout his experience with Project SEARCH, Leder was exposed to other departments at ThedaCare. In addition to working in pharmacy, he tried out jobs within the hospital’s lab and Cardiovascular Special Procedure Area (CSPA).
Russell said Leder’s positive attitude and skills bonded him to the Pharmacy Department. He joined ThedaCare about two months after graduating from Project SEARCH.
“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.”
Leder has evolved since first connecting with ThedaCare, said Kailey Colwell, a Mission Team Leader at Goodwill NCW.
“When Nate started in Central Pharmacy, he was a little shy and nervous,” she said. “Watching him go from an intern here at the hospital to now being a team member has been really great.”
Amanda Paton, a Certified Pharmacy Technician with ThedaCare, works alongside Nate. She said his work makes an impact.
“It’s a huge help,” she said. “Delivering to the floors especially when it’s busy, we always have Nate saying: ‘I’m ready. Let’s go. I can do this.’ His positive attitude, even under occasional pressure, is a plus for our team.”
Prepping pop-ons was Leder’s first job in the Pharmacy. 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 said. “Once those two are mixed together, they’re hung on an IV pole and then infused into the patient.”
Leder’s responsibilities have continued to expand. They now include outdating – writing expiration dates on medications – and delivering medications to Pyxis machines throughout the hospital. Pyxis machines are medication dispensing systems that help team members safely and efficiently dispense medications to patients.
Thanks to the partnership between ThedaCare and Goodwill NCW, many Project SEARCH graduates have experienced successes similar to Leder’s.
Each September, ThedaCare welcomes eight to 10 class participants into ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton. In late May 2025, the program graduated its fifth class.
Program participants become fully ingrained in ThedaCare’s efforts to provide consistent, high-quality care to the patients and communities it serves, said 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 said. “They become part of our family and we grow with them.”
Goodwill NCW appreciates ThedaCare’s support and commitment to Project SEARCH, Colwell said.
“ThedaCare has really helped support the program in more ways than just letting us host the program here,” she said. “They’ve also hired multiple graduates from the program. We’re seeing them throughout the whole hospital and I just think that’s really great.”
Russell said she looks forward to continuing to work with Leder and hopes his story will inspire others to welcome Project SEARCH graduates onto their teams.
“Nate has taught me to be happy every day. The bad stuff just doesn’t matter,” she said. “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.”
