"Good help" in St. Petersburg

Founded in 2001 by representatives of seven local organizations, the Refugee Healthcare Partnership (RHP) provides necessary health services and meaningful employment opportunities for refugees in the Tampa Bay, FL, area. Spearheaded by Catholic health care organizations and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, the RHP was made possible initially by funding from the Bon Secours Mission Fund of Bon Secours Health System, Marriottsville, MD. Florida leads the nation in granting lawful permanent resident status to refugees and asylum seekers. Like the rest of the country, Florida has a shortage of long-term care nursing personnel. RHP leaders believed that by training refugees to become certified nursing assistants (CNAs) they could ease the local CNA shortage and provide refugees jobs with health insurance. Soon thereafter, RHP leaders recognized that to be successful they would have to provide services to teach refugees English. The RHP worked with the Pinellas Technical Education Centers (PTEC) to form the Pinellas Refugee Education Program (PREP). Funded by the Florida Department of Children and Families and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, PREP assists refugees to learn English and to train for jobs, including careers outside of health care. To help RHP clients prepare for CNA classes at PTEC, a "medical orientation" course was developed to give refugees familiarity with medical terms and with long-term care practices in the U.S. In less than four years, the RHP has served more than 260 clients. The RHP continues to offer its clients needs assessment; placement in health-care related, entry-level training programs; mentoring programs; and referrals to medical services. The original seed funding from Bon Secours has now been superseded by a substantial grant from the state.