Warm welcome, ‘big goals’ for health-care workers recruited from Philippines

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This article was published 07/02/2024 (612 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Health-care workers recruited by a Manitoba government mission to the Philippines last year say former colleagues are eager to join them in the province.

“Many friends back home, they’d really love to come here,” said May Dela Cruz, who works as a direct support worker in Portage la Prairie.

Her husband, Aris Dela Cruz, a registered dialysis nurse in the Philippines, took a job as a health-care aide at a personal care home.

Getting a job offer and immigrating, for most, remains a major challenge, said May, who arrived in Manitoba Nov. 29 with her husband and five-year-old son Joseph.

The then-Tory government offered jobs to 309 people during the recruitment trip. To date, more than two dozen of them have arrived in Manitoba.

In Portage, Aris is one of three registered nurses who were recruited. They are working as health-care aides in Manitoba.

Premier Wab Kinew, who has questioned the cost and the success of the trip, has said his NDP government has no plan to extend recruitment efforts that focus on the Philippines, but will “cast a wider net.” He hasn’t elaborated.

The Dela Cruzes say, for them, the recruitment mission was a success. On two occasions in recent years, their applications to come to Canada had been rejected.

Aris, 44, said he wouldn’t now qualify for the Manitoba provincial nominee program, partly because of his age.

Many nurses compete for low-paying jobs in the Philippines, so Aris found work at a hospital in Saudi Arabia, leaving his wife and son back home.

Homesick after two years away from his family, Aris quit and applied at a consulting firm in Dubai that promised a nursing position in Canada. It turned out to be a scam, he said.

He lost more than $2,300 and returned home to Cagayan de Oro, a city in Northern Mindanao, Philippines.

The experience made him leery of international recruiters, his wife said. However, when she saw news about the Manitoba recruitment mission posted on social media last year, she submitted her husband’s resumé without telling him.

“We had big goals,” said May, 41.

When Aris was invited to a Manitoba-led interview at a hotel in Manila, he first thought it was a scam and turned it down. May explained it was legitimate, and pushed him to hear the recruitment pitch.

Aris met the delegation that included then-labour and immigration minister Jon Reyes and interviewers from Shared Health and the immigration department.

“He called me and said, ‘Honey it’s really true. I got a job offer and met a lot of Canadians there,’” May recalled. “I was really happy because of all the struggles. We made it.”

The family arrived in Manitoba at the end of November.

Most of their expenses, including three months’ rent, were covered. The cost of airfare and medical exams for May and their son wasn’t.

Shared Health will pay for Aris’s educational upgrading and nursing licence exams, May added.

Manitoba has an estimated 2,600 vacant nursing positions. Aris said he expects to be a licensed RN in a year.

“Those nurses they hired are all skilled,” his wife said. “They have to start from the bottom. It’s a lot of sacrifice.”

Many more would be ready to come to Manitoba if given the chance, said May, who just started a job as a direct support worker on a casual basis. Her plan is to earn a master’s degree in management and return to her field of expertise.

The couple, who didn’t know anyone in Manitoba prior to their arrival, has been moved by the welcome they’ve received in the city of 13,000, west of Winnipeg.

“We are so lucky, because in Portage la Prairie they are very warm people. I want to thank them,” May said.

They have no regrets, especially for their son and his future.

“We made the better decision coming here, because health care is free, the education is free and the facilities are superb,” May said.

Joseph, who isn’t talking a lot yet, will soon see a speech pathologist at his school. “It’s a big help. I’m thankful we are here,” his mother added.

So is Portage.

On Tuesday, the Dela Cruzes attended a lunch for the recent recruits, hosted by Tory MLA Jeff Bereza, along with community leaders and agencies.

“This is your home and we’re here to help,” Bereza said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca