Program Helps Immigrant Health Care Workers Get Licensed

The Welcome Back Initiative is a nonprofit group founded in 2002, which has helped almost 1,000 immigrant health care workers become licensed in their fields in the US.  Many immigrants who are trained in various fields in their home country end up working in different fields when they immigrate to the US.  Through the Welcome Back Initiative, those who have received health care training abroad, such as nursing, psychiatry, etc., are assisted in becoming licensed to practice in their field in the US.

The group has programs in Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Providence, Rhode Island.  The Rhode Island and California programs help all health care workers become licensed, while the Boston program focuses on helping nurses.

José Ramón Fernández-Peña, a doctor from Mexico, is the founder of the Welcome Back Initiative. The group was created from his experience when he emigrated from Mexico in the mid 1980s, and became an associate professor of health education at San Francisco State University instead of practicing medicine.

The group helps foreign-trained health professionals to take additional courses to meet educational requirements, if needed, and to relearn medical terminology in English in order to pass licensing exams.  In this way, the group is trying to help address shortages in nursing and other medical fields.

However, it is not always possible for the immigrants to return to their original profession, either because it has been too long since they practiced in their field or because of differences in education systems.  In these cases, the Welcome Back Initiative tries to help participants find other health-care jobs.

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