my $search_text = param("search_text") || "";

if($search_text ne "") {
   $sql_stmnt = "SELECT emp_id, CONCAT(emp_first, ' ', emp_last)
                 FROM sys_main.humans
                 WHERE emp_first LIKE '%$search_text%'
                 OR emp_last LIKE '%$search_text%'";
$sth = $dbh->prepare($sql_stmnt);
$sth->execute();

while(@emp_matches = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
      $emp_matches{$emp_matches[0]} = $emp_matches[1]; } }