News/Press Releases

Marin residents get job retraining in nursing program

Marin City resident Charisma Douglass said she was destined for a career in medicine after being a young helper for her diabetic grandmother. An early pregnancy detoured her plans.
"My life took a different path," said Douglass, 27, a single mother of two. "I had to do whatever I could to support my child. I feel like many people are put on this Earth to do different things. For me, I'm here to nurture and take care of everybody."

Douglass, who has been out of a job for a year after working as a security guard, has a second chance at her first passion. She was one of 18 Marin graduates this week of a certified nurse assistant training course offered through a job retraining partnership of local government agencies and the American Red Cross.

Many students, clients of Marin Employment Connection, were unemployed or receiving some form of public assistance.

Training included 160 hours split between class time at College of Marin's Indian Valley campus and clinical practice at local nursing homes. Certified graduates are qualified to work in nursing homes. Many were continuing with home health aide training to qualify for work at private homes.

Mary Donovan, who oversees the Marin Employment Connection as director of the county's Workforce Investment Board, said the training was the culmination of an effort by the county agency to pair qualified individuals with Marin employers that run home health agencies and nursing facilities.

Donovan said there's a big demand for jobs in skilled nursing facilities and long-term care facilities in the county given Marin's growing older population and round-the-clock work schedules.

A job fair organized for program graduates will be held Sept. 11, Donovan said.

Maggie O'Brien, director of volunteer and nursing programs at the Red Cross, which administers the training, said of current participants, "we are so pleased to help them get on the path to financial independence, while filling the need for licensed caregivers in the community."

Douglass, who spent Friday taking tests at the American Red Cross' Santa Rosa office, said she surprised herself at how well she's done in the classroom, but still preferred being out in the field.

"I was happy to sit there and learn," she said. "When we got to go and help residents, I came across others who didn't just look at it as a job. It felt good."

FOR MORE INFO

For more information on job retraining programs, call the Marin Employment Connection at 473-3300 or visit www.marinemployment.org.