Program Gives Boston-Area Job Seekers Boost in Health-Care Sector.

Byline: Eun Lee Koh

Nov. 24--When MaryEllen Woodman started classes last January to learn basic skills in health care, she saw herself only as a van driver, and as a single mother who had been on welfare, worked as a telemarketer, and once manned the cash register at a supermarket.

Almost a year later, she says she can now envision new ways to describe herself one day: as a nursing assistant, a receptionist at a hospital, or perhaps even a radiology technician.

Woodman, along with about 180 others, was among the first group of people to graduate this fall from the first phase of the HealthcareWorks initiative, which began late last year to get underskilled, low-income, and immigrant residents of the western suburbs jobs in hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes that are seeking workers. Starting tomorrow, Woodman and others like her begin the second phase: learning how to get into schools to earn licenses in nursing and other health care fields.

"It's a career where I know I will have a future," said Woodman, who works for Employment Options in Marlborough, driving mentally ill patients to doctors' appointments and activities. "It's not a dead-end job. There's a chance to move up in life, and I can really make something of myself and help others too."

The courses, held in Waltham, Framingham, and Marlborough, taught Woodman and others basic skill requirements of the health care field, along with job-searching etiquette, and, for immigrant students, how to speak English.

T. Edward Tirrell, director of the HealthcareWorks project for the Framingham-based Metro South/West Regional Employment Board, said over the past several years, the board began noticing trends within the health care industry. Even as the economy sagged and unemployment rose, Tirrell said, they noticed there was a shortage of health care workers -- particularly nurses and medical technicians.