Hospitals move to boost skilled minority workers

Janera Dobson wants to work her way up from the bottom rungs of Boston's biggest industry, healthcare.

In May, the 18-year-old left a job at Stop & Shop in Jamaica Plain to become a patient-care assistant at Brigham and Women's Hospital , where she bathes patients and takes their blood pressure. The pay isn't great -- $12 an hour -- but Dobson says that even her relatively low position has its rewarding moments, like the time she helped an elderly woman turn over in bed.

``For a little person, you're mighty strong," the grateful patient told her.

She had better be. As a young black woman, Dobson faces long odds in her quest to eventually become a registered nurse.

Minorities hold many of the lowest-paying, least-skilled jobs at Boston's hospitals, mirroring national figures. And they are poorly represented in the higher-paying ranks of registered nurses, surgical support staff, and lab technicians -- jobs that require more training.

At Boston hospitals up to 95 percent of housekeeping staff and 80 percent of food services workers are minorities. But the number of registered nurses who are minorities is less than 10 percent in most institutions, with the exception of Boston Medical Center , which has 22 percent.

Some of the historic reasons for the disparities include inadequate attempts by the hospitals to find young workers in minority neighborhoods, a lack of educational opportunities, and inflexible work schedules that make it difficult for them to attend school at the same time.

But slowly, Brigham and Women's and the city's other large hospitals are taking steps to address the problem.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center , for instance, this year began collaborating with Mass Bay Community College to train eight employees as surgical technicians and another eight as nurses.

``Next year we hope to double that," said Lisa Zankman , senior vice president for human resources at Beth Israel Deaconess. ``It's still incremental, but we're trying."

The racial disparities at Boston hospitals were highlighted in a report commissioned last year by the city. It said minorities may receive substandard care when the majority of nursing staff is white because of a lack of cultural sensitivity. It recommended that hospitals do more to identify, encourage, train, and promote minority workers.

Dobson is among the promising minority employees Brigham and Women's Hospital wants to nurture for future promotion. It paid for her training as a patient-care assistant before she started working, and is ready to help as she gains more experience.

``We're walking the walk here," said Brigham and Women's chief executive Gary Gottlieb , who leads a citywide task force formed in 2004 to find ways to improve the industry's track record on minority hiring.

Brigham and Women's is setting goals for training and promoting employees to nursing and technician positions, Gottlieb said. Currently only about 5 percent of open nursing and technician positions are filled from lower ranks within the hospital. He wants to raise that to 15 percent over the next few years.

The effort involves paying tuition and providing other support, including flexible work hours and providing full pay while workers attend classes. The hospital also is pairing minority employees with advocates and mentors to help them manage careers at the huge institution.

Brigham and Women's plans to open a storefront recruiting office in neighboring Roxbury, a symbolic as well as a practical step into the mostly black community.

Both Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General Hospital , the flagship institutions of Partners HealthCare , have also established outreach programs in city high schools, where students are encouraged to pursue health careers, and enter summer work programs at the hospitals.

``People in these jobs are not going to be delivered to our doorsteps," said Matt Fishman , vice president for community health at Partners. ``We have to take a major role in making that happen."

The mission is more than a quest to correct historical inequities, say hospital executives.

Boston's healthcare and medical research industry rely on a rich pool of prospective employees to work in technical support and advanced care-giving roles.

``If we don't bring skills to these people, we won't be able to bring industrial growth in the areas where we have strength," Gottlieb said.

Boston's hospitals also want to tap into the minority workforce as a way to end chronic labor shortages, especially in nursing. For example, Brigham and Women's will open a new cardiac care center that will require 270 more workers by 2008, Gottlieb said.

Hospitals have occasionally attempted to hire and promote more minority workers, particularly when the labor market tightens and workers become scarce, said Andrew Sum , director of the center for labor market studies at Northeastern University . But when the demand subsides, so do their efforts, he said.

``Over the last 20 years, I've seen people do this back and forth -- we do it for a while, then we stop, then we start again," Sum said.

Gottlieb called such criticism unfair. He said Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital have consistently pursued minority promotion programs for at least a decade.

``There's no question there are cycles, and if you have no jobs available, it's harder to commit the resources to training people," he said.

For now, Brigham and Women's Hospital is highlighting individual success stories, including that of Carol Belle, who was the subject of a profile in a hospital newsletter. A single mother and immigrant from St. Kitt's , Belle began a healthcare career as a food-service worker at a nursing home, then moved to Brigham and Women's hospital as a patient-care assistant. While on the job, she received a year of training at Bunker Hill Community College , paid for by Brigham and Women's. Belle now works as a surgical technician. She wants more training so she can become an operating room nurse.

As a surgical technician, her job is to make sure that required operating room equipment is in place. She remains in the operating room during procedures, ensuring a sterile perimeter is maintained around the operating table. She also hands instruments to doctors and nurses, and assists with the equipment count at the end of procedures, to make sure nothing has been left inside a patient.

``Someone's life is in your hands," she said.

Christopher Rowland can be reached at crowland@globe.com.