Title: Welcome Back Program
College: Mt. San Antonio College
College Contact:
Dr. Jesus Oliva,
Program Director
909-594-5611 x6108 orjoliva@mtsac.edu
Target population:
Bilingual/bicultural residents who want to re-enter or advance
through career laddering health care occupations. Racial/ethnic
demographics have registered 60% Hispanic, 36% Asian, and 4% other
program participants, of which nearly 40% have been residing in
California for seven or more years
Goals:
The Welcome Back
program is part of a statewide initiative to build a bridge between
the pool of internationally trained health workers living in
California and the need of linguistically and culturally competent
health services in underserved communities. This is achieved through
counseling and educational programs, preparation for appropriate
licenses, credentials, and development of leadership, management and
advocacy skills.
Description:
The Mt. San
Antonio College Welcome Back program is one of three statewide
initiative locations funded through a grant from The California
Endowment (TCE) to assist foreign-trained health care workers
residing in California to transition to high wage-high skill health
care occupations. Participants have included former nurses, doctors,
dentists, psychologists and other health professionals who have been
unable to secure health care employment in the United States due to
barriers of licensure, language, and culture. The program has
assessed local occupational health care needs, developed
partnerships with hospitals and other health care industries,
developed and implemented program-specific curricula, and developed
a Student Success Kit, which will be disseminated this year.The
program is a cost-effective use of resources as foreign-trained
health care workers can be trained for employment in one-third of
the time, and for one-third of the cost for a non-trained worker.
Staffing:
Program Director,
Program Supervisor, Case Manager, Data Entry staff person, Nurse
Advisor/Faculty member, and program Clerk.
Facilities, equipment, materials:
Classrooms, office space
Costs, funding source: Grants and
in-kind college match for facilities and equipment. The program has
begun to look for opportunities to integrate services into the Mt.
San Antonio College system. Nine local hospitals and the Los Angeles
County Dept of Health.
Services have been approached for continued program support and a
recent grant from the California Community Foundation has funded a
two-year Nurse Licensure program. In addition a Nurse Licensure
Pathway will be supported by the Governors Discretionary Funds for
two years.
Outreach and marketing:
When the program started in 2001, the college issued a press release
to various media outlets, including Spanish-speaking media sources.
Dr. Oliva delivered a 30-second program announcement on a Spanish
language television network (Channel 34), which generated over
38,000 inquiries! Word-of-mouth networking among program
participants also generated inquiries for program enrollment.
Evidence of effectiveness:
Over 2,000 participants have enrolled in the Welcome Back program
over the last four years. In 2004, over 120 graduates successfully
re-entered health care occupational areas. In a salary survey of 100
program completers successfully employed in health care occupations
one year after graduation, annual wages increased by more than 400
percent.
The program has been able to expand and explore other opportunities
based on its success, including a $250,000 two-year grant from the
California Community Foundation for a Nurse Licensure program, also
an $ 800,000 two-year grant from the Governors Discretionary Funds.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services is supporting
program efforts to create career ladders for bilingual/bicultural
health care workers. Dr. Oliva presented the Student Success Kit at
a Los Angeles County Health Department Symposium and the Case
Management Manual as part of the effort to disseminate the Welcome
Back model and highlight its successes
Suggestions for replication:
Provide counseling and guidance on an on-going basis for students.
Present positive role models and stories of success so that students
can develop a positive outlook and goal-oriented strategy to gain
high-wage high-skill employment in health care occupations. Create
and nurture partnerships early on with local hospitals and other
health care industries to garner and manage resources, create a
strong student employer connection, and keep college programs and
services responsive to employer needs.