More details on a pilot program, helping internationally educated healthcare professionals get their feet on the ground in Niagara, will be unveiled at an information open house in St. Catharines Thursday night.
Over the past year, the Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre launched the program to assist Internationally Educated Healthcare Professionals understand and navigate our healthcare requirements.
Supported by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, it was also developed using a health navigator model to help newcomers who are more likely to experience barriers to healthcare due to language or cultural barriers.
“The Health Navigator Program for Internationally Educated Health Professionals (IEHPs) is a win-win-win pilot model to simultaneously ease overreliance on the health care system by newcomers, help IEHPs to gain faster access to their chosen fields of profession by understanding and navigating the healthcare system themselves and other immigrants, and help employers faster integrate IEHPs to the healthcare ecosystem either as navigators as well as healthcare professionals in their chosen fields of expertise.” says Emily Kovacs, Executive Director of Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre.
On Thursday, March 30th, at 7p.m., some of the 54 graduates of the program will talk about their experience at Robertson Hall, Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre.
The evening will conclude with a celebration acknowledging the hard work, dedication and success of the graduates and the supporting team.