New Center Will Help Immigrant Health Care Professionals Earn Accreditation in the United States

A new center opened last Thursday in Walnut that will help train immigrant health care professionals for "jobs in the U.S. health care system," the Los Angeles Times reports. The Welcome Back: International Health Worker Assistance Center, based at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, also includes a "network of assistance centers" at Charles R. Drew University, California State University-Long Beach and Los Angeles City College. Counselors at the centers, funded with a $1.4 million grant from the California Endowment, will help health care professionals from foreign nations "obtain the appropriate licensing, credentials and training ... to re-enter their old profession or learn a new one in a related field." Dr. Rosevelt Jacobs, interim dean of the College of Allied Health at Drew University, said, "Many international graduates are working menial jobs. Even though they are trained in health care, they are unable to practice." The Los Angeles Times reports that the program will help increase diversity in health care and "provide jobs for which immigrants have skills" (Perera, Los Angeles Times, 2/10).