By Monica Hatcher, The Miami Herald
Oct. 4–Like thousands of foreign medical professionals in South Florida, the former OB/GYN from Cuba faced enormous challenges that kept him from getting back into the healthcare field. Among them: a language barrier, having to support a family and passing difficult board exams to get licensed.
After ten years of working humble jobs, the former doctor said he was fed up wasting his talents. It may be too late to practice medicine again, he thought, but not too late to do something else. When he was 53, Mesa-Payan enrolled in a one-year program at Miami Dade College to become a nurse. His only regret is that he didn’t do it sooner.
Mesa-Payan shared his story Tuesday night with hundreds of foreign doctors, nurses and medical technicians gathered at Miami Dade College to learn more about a new initiative that aims to fast-track them back into lucrative medical careers.
“Everybody who is here is open-minded enough to realize that becoming a doctor is not the only alternative that we have,” Mesa-Payan said, speaking on a panel of professionals who have made comebacks in medicine.
Since the U.S government announced last year that it would begin expediting asylum petitions of defecting Cuban medical personnel, MDC has seen an influx of students seeking certification in the healthcare professions. The surge has prompted the school to expand its offerings.
(Several years ago, Florida International University also chartered a program that helps foreign-educated doctors become registered nurses.)
“Suddenly, we are dealing with much larger numbers — not only from Cuba but other countries,” said Kathie Sigler, president of the MDC medical campus.
This year alone, more than 300 former health professionals signed up for the college’s REVEST program, which provides free English language and vocational training for refugees and other immigrants.
While the school has always worked with foreign health professionals — nearly a quarter of the students graduating as physician assistants, and almost an eighth of its nursing graduates, have had training abroad — Sigler said MDC is in the process of making room for more foreign-trained students.
“For some programs, we have had to go to accrediting associations to ask for additional slots,” she explained, “In order to become a nurse, for example, you have to have a certain number of clinical hours with a hospital faculty. All of the schools and universities negotiate with hospitals about how many placements they can have.”
She also said the college will now offer courses helping foreign doctors prepare for the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam — one step in a rigorous, costly process leading to licensure as a doctor.
The school also negotiated additional funding for REVEST to cover tuition and fees for several shorter-term programs training students to become phlebotomists and pharmacy techs, among other fields. And students will now have a one-stop center where they can have their English language skills assessed, their foreign transcripts evaluated and get academic counseling.
That all sounded good to Chanel Estrada, a Cuban-trained doctor working as a registered nurse. But Estrada, who practiced medicine for just a year before coming to Miami, wants another shot at being a doctor. “I’ve dedictated too many years when I was younger to give it up. So, for me now, it’s like a goal in my life I haven’t accomplished.”
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