In the current economic downturn, only one industry continues to grow: Health care. As California’s growing population gets older, the state’s hospitals and clinics need more qualified nurses, particularly bi-cultural, bilingual staff who can meet the needs of their diverse pool of patients.  JVS bridges that gap by reaching out to an untapped resource: foreign-trained nurses living in the East Bay. 

Hasija Sisic had over fifteen

years of nursing experience in her native Bosnia, but when she arrived in the United States in 1995, she learned that her life’s work was not enough to get her a job in her field.  “They told me, ‘Forget about that. You are never going to be a nurse,’” Hasija says.  Undaunted, she came to JVS and discovered the LVN Refresher Program, a four month training program designed to teach foreign-trained nurses like Hasija all about the American healthcare system. 

California needs talented health care professionals like Hasija.  Job openings for nurses are expected to increase by 17% in the Bay Area in the next ten years, with a projected 41,100 LVN and RN jobs in the region by 2012. California will need over 60,000 additional nurses to meet the projected demand for nursing services in 2020, as a growing and aging population has increased the need for both acute and long-term care.

Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) has been training nurses for over 16 years, but is now teaming up with the Immigrant Nurse Re-entry Program (INRP) collaborative to expand services to the East Bay.  The new East Bay LVN Refresher Program is now accepting applications from foreign-educated nurses – many of whom may have advanced degrees in their home countries and are working in lower-level positions – to train them for the U.S. nursing field.   

The four month course will begin on August 24 at San Francisco City College, and will include a vocational English class at the English Center in Oakland’s Jack London Square, clinical rotations at medical facilities in San Francisco and in Oakland, and individualized coaching and job placement assistance.  Other than class books, this program is free to all participants. 

The program can be just the boost foreign professionals need to live up to their potential.  Once she completed the course, Hasija quickly passed her board exams, and is now working full-time as a nurse in Hayward. “Nursing is all that I know,” she says. “JVS helped me learn English and get my license so I can be who I am: a nurse.”

Call (415) 782-6233 for more information. Or visit www.jvs.org