The City of Boston is trying to tap a long-wasted resource: immigrants who had medical training in their home countries but are not qualified to practice in the U.S. With medical facilities across the region facing huge staffing shortages, the city has launched a pilot program to connect immigrant workers to paid fellowships at local hospitals, in the hopes of creating a pathway into health care careers.
“Often they're [immigrants] doing jobs in other industries, which is a loss for them because they put in all this time and energy back home in a particular field. And it's also a loss for us in the city and the state because industries benefit if they can get workers that have had some experience already in that industry,” said Yusufi Vali, director of the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement.
Vali said the office landed on the medical industry for the Immigrant Professionals Fellowship because of the labor shortage there, opportunities for new jobs during the pandemic, and the fact that many immigrants come here with a health care background. The city has partnered with a nonprofit called the African Bridge Network, which helps foreign-trained professionals navigate the complications of the U.S. licensure process.
The city’s pilot project avoids the barrier of licensing, and instead works on getting immigrants assimilated within the local health care system.
“What the fellowship decided to do was to really not target the licensure issue right now, but rather find a position that doesn't require a license for someone to practice and still give these immigrant professionals the U.S. working experience,” said Emmanuel Owusu, the executive director at African Bridge Network.
For the pilot, ten inaugural fellows, originating from Haiti and several African countries, went through a free, four-week training program that focused on communication and professional development. Then fellows worked at paid, three-month positions at Boston Children’s Hospital, Mass General Brigham, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, or Boston Medical Center. Those hospital placements are non-clinical, mostly administrative positions paying $20 an hour for 30 hours per week.
To qualify, the person has to identify as an immigrant, have work authorization, commit to the hours, provide proof of higher education beyond high school, and have previous experience in health care and English proficiency.
Seventy people applied to the first round and ten were chosen for the pilot. Those who weren’t selected can reapply in the future.
Applications have reopened for the fellowship and are being accepted until April 29. The program is being expanded to 15 spots for Bostonians, and an additional ten for people who live outside of Boston, which African Bridge will promote.
The program is meant to give participants a pathway back into a medical career.
“It’s a foot in the door,” said Owusu.”They’re able to leverage the internal career development resources within these [hospital] organizations to grow their career.”
Christelle Etienne, 27, is originally from Haiti. She went through medical school and residency there before practicing as a physician. When she moved to the U.S. permanently, she was stunned to learn how complicated it would be to become a licensed doctor here.
A friend told her about the Immigrant Professionals Fellowship. “The program helped me in a way that I could — right from the start — integrate with the system and be able to work and gain experience from that,” she told GBH News.
The Hyde Park resident was assigned to Boston Medical Center to be a community health worker in the COVID-19 vaccine clinic, helping with registration and patient education. “I really loved it,” she said, adding that she was able to work 40 hours a week. The fellowship was extended, and then she was hired as a community health and ambulatory service worker.
“I’m so happy to make so many connections with the fellowship because one of my goals is to pursue my career as a doctor,” she said. Etienne wants to pass licensure exams and join a residency program, hopefully to be a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center someday.
The program is also open to immigrants who have gained some health care training in the U.S. but have had difficulty landing health care jobs here.
Juliet Taylor is from Nigeria, where she worked as a bank assistant. She came to the U.S. in 2008 and became a certified nursing assistant. After her older sister suffered and died from a respiratory illness, Taylor was inspired to seek a career in respiratory therapy.
But the Mattapan resident struggled to find her dream position because she didn’t have the right work experience. She learned about the fellowship while applying for a food assistance program.
“I don’t know if it was a coincidence or an accident. I’m not sure what I want to call it yet, but I said, ‘This is wonderful. This falls in line with me,” Taylor said.
She was placed in the neonatal respiratory unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
“I learned a lot. The NICU takes care of full-term and premies who are born with respiratory issues. You have to put them on mechanical ventilation, invasive, or non-invasive,” she said. Taylor called the fellowship a “real door-opener,” and said she’s taken one exam necessary to become a registered respiratory therapist, and has one more to go.
Vali said his own family experienced the career displacement that comes with immigration to the U.S. His father was a civil engineer in India who ended up working in water treatment in the U.S. Vali’s mother was an educator, but had to completely redo her education, going to community college, and then get a master’s to get back to where she was in the field in India.
“It's a very common story. I think here in Massachusetts and Boston, if we can show that this works, I hope it starts a movement at the state level. But really across the country,” Vali said.
