JHL (10.07.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Altogether 17 nurses from the Philippines passed their exams to become practical nurses, appropriately enough on the Philippine independence day in June, at Amiedu, the vocational adult education centre in Helsinki. JHL offered grants to two of the students.
The nurses arrived in Finland last October and most of them completed their studies with excellent marks. All underwent Finnish language training also. And they already had nursing qualifications from the Philippines.
The process to select the students was demanding. More than two thousand nurses applied for the course of studies and opportunity to work in Finland. After tests and interviews in the Philippines 17 students were chosen. They first did a five-month course in Finnish culture and language in the Philippines before coming to Finland.
All the new practical nurses had been working as apprentices while studying taking care of elderly people in the Helsinki region since their arrival. The employer is the major private provider of care and health care services Attendo and their jobs will continue now the exam is over.
JHL representative Jarmo Malm handed out the grants. "You have the clear potential to become shop stewards", he said to the two stipendiates Francis Dantes and Deogracias Lumba.
Lumba has been working both in the Philippines and Yemen before. "Due to our cultural background it has been difficult for us to learn that in the Finnish rehabilitation ideology not everything is done for or on behalf of the elderly person. In our culture old people are very respected and we are used to helping them in everything."
The experience concerning the Philippine nurses has been so positive that a new group arrived in Finland in early summer. They are also working for Attendo.
Finland has a growing lack of competent staff in the care sector. According to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy it is estimated that by the year 2025 there will be a shortage of at least 20,000 workers in the care sector in Finland.