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Navigate nursing with C.A.R.E.

More than 700 nurses trained abroad have walked through the doors at C.A.R.E., all with essentially the same ambition: return to the profession they trained for in their home countries.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2006-06-28 ]

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Dawn Sheppard, the executive director of C.A.R.E., (right) poses with three internationally educated nurses (from the left): Jaward Naseer, Shahla Eskandarian and Nitsuh Bizumeh.

Dawn Sheppard, executive director of C.A.R.E., says the organization began in 2001 following the efforts of four groups, St. Michael's Hospital and WoodGreen Community Services, and others from the Chinese and Filipino communities. All were concerned about the barriers nurses trained abroad faced when they came to Ontario, Sheppard says.

C.A.R.E. or the Centre for Access to Regulated Employment works something like a traffic cop for the nurses from more than 60 countries who have used its services. "We help nurses navigate the system," Sheppard says, "and help them make a plan to secure employment in the province."

Signing up at C.A.R.E. used to be free, but now there's a $100 fee, Sheppard says, noting that there are some other charges too, although every effort is made to keep costs down.

C.A.R.E. also has a tuition assistance scholarship fund. The money to support C.A.R.E. comes from the federal government, Queen's Park and the Trillium Foundation, an agency of Ontario's Ministry of Culture.

ASSESSMENT LETTER

Sheppard explains that international nurses who want to work in the province must first have their training assessed by the College of Nurses of Ontario, the profession's regulatory body. Then, once they're armed with a Nursing Readiness Assessment letter from the College, these nurses can seek C.A.R.E.'s help finding out what to do next.

That could be upgrading courses or English language training, for example, or how to conduct a job search. C.A.R.E. also provides job shadowing opportunities and workshops, Sheppard says, noting her organization works with more than 15 health-care partners. It's also closely aligned with the local colleges that provide the courses internationally trained nurses may need to take to qualify here.

Among the 700 nurses who have sought C.A.R.E.'s help is 30-year-old Irene Chen. She trained in China and spent eight years there as a general medical-surgical nurse before coming to Canada in 2003. Chen works part-time at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and says with C.A.R.E.'s help she took one clinical practice and seven theory courses at George Brown College, something she chose to do because all the College of Nurses required from her was to pass an English test and a successful qualifying exam. Chen describes C.A.R.E. as "someone to take care of me."

Chen's colleague at Mount Sinai Hospital, Erika Romero, also came to Canada in 2003 and now works full time in that hospital's ICU. A native of Venezuela who, like Chen, worked as nurse in her home country for eight years, Romero says the biggest barrier to her resuming nursing was English. She says she spent a year in Kitchener studying English full time before moving to Toronto and approaching C.A.R.E.

GEORGE BROWN COURSES

"I improved my English and I improved my nursing too," says Romero, who's 34.

With C.A.R.E.'s guidance, Romero took six courses at George Brown College covering such topics as Nursing in Ontario and Pharmacology. She took her national qualifying exam in 2004, but failed it, something Romero blames on her English skills at the time. "It's a seven-hour test and has around 300 questions," she says. Romero took the test again last December and passed.

By any measure, C.A.R.E. is a success. Sheppard points out that the organization opened an office in Hamilton last year, has incorporated -- its first annual general meeting is today -- and has started to explore how the C.A.R.E. model can be transferred to smaller communities.

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