Education & Training Institute partners with Bunker Hill Community College and Jewish Vocational Services

East Boston, MA, May 8, 2007—The emergency room is packed with restless patients waiting to be seen. “Excuse me! I’m having back pain,” calls out a patient. “The doctor will see you soon,” replies the triage nurse. “You’re going to get better, so don’t worry about it.”

In fact, the “patient” isn’t sick at all, but is a student in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class at East Boston Neighborhood Health Center’s (EBNHC) Education & Training Institute (ETI), as is her “nurse.”

Offered in partnership with the Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), the class is in the middle of a role-playing exercise, each student taking a different part in an emergency room scene. As they move from the waiting area to examining rooms, describing their symptoms and prescribing treatment, the students are not only practicing grammar and pronunciation, but are also polishing their professional skills for medical settings.

Their ESOL teacher, Lara, notes that in just 10 weeks, “they have made leaps and bounds in their ability to articulate. And they’re so creative. No matter the assignment, they take it and run with it.” The students, all EBNHC employees, are learning quickly—in part because “they feel so comfortable in their environment and with each other.”

Fatima, a student in the class who works as an interpreter at the health center, agrees. “We have a good relationship with our co-workers and classmates, so we have fun while we are learning.” Fatima applies her lessons at ETI to her work at EBNHC every day. “Sometimes when you are speaking another language, you don’t feel confident because it is so hard to say even the smallest things. Now we can feel more confident and professional in our jobs, and that is better for patients.”

As the ESOL class heads home, students in the Writing Skills (English 095) class settle into their seats. Along with Math 090, the writing class is a three-credit course offered at ETI by Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC). Now a satellite campus of BHCC, ETI brings college level courses directly to the East Boston community and EBNHC employees.

“We will offer courses based on the greatest needs among our employees and area residents,” says Jeanne Sinatra, ETI Program Coordinator. “The writing and math courses offered this spring will be followed by courses at the next level over the summer. And in the fall, we’ll offer seven courses four nights a week.”

As a satellite BHCC campus, ETI offers onsite placement exams, financial aid information, and enrollment information nights. The ease of attending evening courses close to work and with co-workers made the difference for Katrina and Zohra, both employees in EBNHC’s finance and patient accounting department. They are taking the Writing and Math classes at ETI two nights a week. “I’ve been thinking about going back to school for the past six years,” says Katrina. “It’s hard with kids and a fulltime job, but I want to get a degree in nursing, or maybe an MBA.”

The opportunity to attend class at ETI made it possible. “The location is helpful,” she says. “It’s smaller and more one-on-one help is available.” Zohra adds, “I see people I work with, and feel more comfortable. It’s also nice that we’re not older than the other students, the way we would be on a college campus.”

Lorraine is also enrolled in the writing and math classes. A graduate of the Certified Nursing Assistant class held at ETI in 2006, she is now employed as a Geriatric Health Aide at the Elder Service Plan’s Winthrop facility. “Karen, my supervisor at Winthrop, is always pushing the aides to learn more so that we can be promoted,” she says. “I’d like to become a nurse, so here I am back at ETI taking the next step.”

It’s a busy evening at ETI. In another room, a small group of East Boston residents are preparing for their US citizenship exam. Taught by staff from JVS and free to community residents, the course provides US history and civics lessons, assistance with the application for citizenship, and preparation for the interview with the Citizenship and Immigration Service, as well as language training. As in the other classrooms at ETI, students’ hard work is mixed with a lot of laughter. It’s a comfortable room, an easy place to learn what is needed to reach a goal.

Manning the front desk this evening, Dave observes the classes come and go. An EBNHC intern and now part-time employee, he came to East Boston to find out more about community-based health care. In graduate school at Boston College, he says, “I learned all about the common barriers to continuing education: cost, distance, time away from work and family, lack of access to useful courses. While the students here have faced those barriers, with the help of ETI, they’re not letting them get in the way. Every afternoon and evening, they’re here—every one of them.”

In partnership with BHCC and JVS, EBNHC is committed to reducing barriers to advancement and opportunity among the health center workforce and the community. Find out how to improve your skills so that you can move to the next level at ETI’s enrollment advising night on Wednesday, May 23, 2007, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at 155 Addison Street in East Boston. Summer courses in math, writing, reading, and medical terminology begin June 4, 2007. Call 617-568-6444 or e-mail training@ebnhc.org for details.