TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5 10 Discovering Diversity B y A l e x O r l a n d o I n 1988, Maregina N. Shankar, cur- rently nurse manager for the Head and Neck Specialty Clinics at Harris Health System's Ben Taub Hospital, looked across the expanses of the Texas Medical Center for the first time. For Shankar, who traveled to Texas from the Philippines, the world's largest medical center reflected a prism of possibility. Arriving on the cusp of a large immi- gration influx—roughly 25,000 Filipino nurses immigrated to the United States between 1966 and 1985—her journey is just one example of foreign-born health care workers sharing their expertise in one of the most racially and ethni- cally diverse metropolitan cities in the country. "I came to Houston thanks to a very good friend who was hired by a recruiting agency based here in the city," Shankar said. "There were 10 of us, all from the same hospital in the Philippines, who came here together and were hired by Harris Health System—they hired something like 20 to 30 nurses from different countries across the globe that year. Actually, that same close friend is still working here at Ben Taub Hospital, where we've both been for the past 27 years." The American health care industry relies heavily on foreign-born workers like Shankar. In 2010, according to the Migration Policy Institute, 16 per- cent of all U.S. health care workers— 1.8 million people—were foreign-born. Among physicians and surgeons, 27 percent are foreign-born, in addition to 22 percent of nurses, psychiatrists and home health aides. While it's clear that immigrant health care employees play a vital role in the fabric of the Texas Medical Center and Houston at large, the dynamic between those workers and the evolving culture of As Houston has diversified, so has the number of patients coming in who need people who are culturally sensitive and versed in other languages. — STEPHEN M. CHERRY, PH.D. Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at University of Houston-Clear Lake the city itself is less transparent. How are foreign-born health care workers in Houston assimilating to American culture and changing the city's DNA in the process? In an effort to lend some clarity and precision to an almost overwhelm- ingly expansive question, researchers Stephen M. Cherry, Ph.D., and Amy E. Lucas, Ph.D., from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, wanted to take a closer look at that relationship between foreign health workers and the city. Entitled, "Assimilation and Transformation through Healthcare: Case of Houston Foreign-born Healthcare Workers and their Community Engagement," the study was commissioned by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research. "A study like this is really a big deal," said Cherry, associate profes- sor in the department of sociology at University of Houston-Clear Lake and the lead author of the report. "It gives us some insight in understanding that we have a high percentage of people who are native-born but aren't following through with their degrees. That's par- ticularly the case with nursing, where there's a disproportionate number of native-born citizens who go into nurs- ing and then never use their degree. They might go through their training and realize, 'This is a tough job.' So you have this influx of foreign-born folks who are coming in." The researchers based their findings on a combination of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and interviews with members of nurse associations for Filipino, Indian, Nigerian and Vietnamese immigrants working in Houston-area hospitals. Stephen Cherry, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of sociology at University of Houston-Clear Lake and the lead author of the report, wanted to examine the relationship between foreign-born health care workers and the city of Houston. RESEARCHERS EXPLORE HOW FOREIGN-BORN HEALTH CARE WORKERS ARE IMPACTING THEIR COMMUNITIES AND CONNECTING WITH PATIENTS IN THE ONE OF THE MOST ETHNICALLY DIVERSE METROPOLITAN AREAS IN THE COUNTRY

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