“Immigrants are saving the American medical establishment.”
“Hospitals in need of immigrants.”
“Hospitals hiring immigrants.”
Jostling for space on the tables of New York’s Sheraton Hotel were glossy flyers with picturesque photographs and descriptions of life in small towns in the state’s Lake Ontario region, along the St. Lawrence River and next to the Adirondack mountains. Camping, fishing, visits to wineries, skiing, and even free coffee and cookies – these were the various ways in which employers from upstate tried to attract new specialists at the job fair. And this during our time of ubiquitous jobs cuts?!
But the job fair participants did not seem to care much about the natural beauty, the possibilities for career growth, the benefits or other attractions offered by employers. Ranka Bulazhik posed the vital question for most people at the fair: “Will you arrange for a work visa?”
The 35-year-old doctor from Serbia is a resident at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway. She has encountered the problem of finding work in New York hospitals, which prefer to hire doctors who have green cards over those who need work visas. Bulazhik is a citizen of Canada, but she does not want to look for work there because there she will have to study for another year. She and her husband, who works as an electrician, decided that the ideal place for them to live would be upstate New York. It would be easy for her husband to find work there (lots of construction sites) and it’s a hop, skip and a jump to Canada, where her mother lives. And this is especially important for the young family since Dr. Bulazhik is pregnant.
The participants in the job fair are doctors, many of whom, like Ranka, are residents at New York hospitals and came here on temporary visas, like a J-1. When they have finished their studies, they must leave the United States and live in their native countries no less than two years before returning here. The only legal way to avoid this is to find an employer who will sponsor their green cards.
Every year New York state helps 30 doctors get work visas in exchange for their agreement to treat patients in areas that lack doctors. Usually, almost half of the total number of visas goes to specialists who will work in hospitals in Crown Heights or the South Bronx. The remaining visas go to physicians departing for upstate. “It’s a prize of sorts for doctors who agree to work in localities that do not have enough doctors,” said Caleb Wister, a planner at the state’s Department of Health.
Ranka has noticed that immigrants from Eastern Europe move to colder places like the northern part of New York state or Oregon, while immigrant doctors from Africa and Caribbean countries prefer Alabama or Virginia.
Thirty-four-year-old doctor Nadya Ferder was born in the United States, but was raised and educated in Buenos Aires. She does not want to work in Argentina because of the low quality of life. “Lawyers, economists, doctors, architects, all specialists are now sitting behind the steering wheel of a taxi,” she explained.
Research shows that graduates of U.S. medical schools, drowning in student loans, hunt for large salaries and recognition, which is why they only practice in large cities. A 2007 report by the Center for Health Workforce Studies showed that physicians working upstate have diplomas from medical schools all over the country, with the exception of medical schools in New York. And those doctors who complain about difficulties finding work do not see themselves outside the Big Apple. Graduates of medical schools in New York City prefer to open practices on Park Avenue, while immigrants who are residents here agree to modest offers – the most important thing for them is to gain a foothold in a new country.
Thirty-one-year-old Romina Tollerutti, a graduate of a medical school in Buenos Aires, started studying English six years ago when she decided to do her residency in America. She did not anticipate that she would have problems with certification in the United States: the multiple-choice exam was especially hard for her. But Romina was able to handle it. She hopes that knowledge of Spanish will help her and her husband, also a doctor, to find work in the United States.
Tollerutti noted that she earns more money as an intern in the pediatrics department at Elmhurst Hospital than a high-end doctor in Argentina. “We are not, of course, able to save money, but we have enough to live on: to rent an apartment, pay for cell phones and cable TV, go to restaurants,” she said.
Her education in Argentina was free and now she feels something of an advantage in her job search over young doctors who studied at American medical schools and must now pay off phantasmagoric student loans that limit their choice of work place.
Twenty-seven-year-old Andre Phillips from Barbados got his medical degree at the University of West Indies in Jamaica. He is a resident at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. His residency ends in 2010 at the same time as his J-1 visa expires, but this does not trouble Andre: he has already been flooded with offers to work at hospitals in the Dakotas. He would prefer, however, to find something on the East Coast, closer to his family that remains in Barbados. Phillips does not have any student loans to pay off and he is not looking to grow rich. The young doctor simply wants to live normally – in a three-bedroom house with a new car in the garage. “I did not decide to become a doctor for money,” he noted. A recruiter from a hospital in the Finger Lakes Region told Andre that her hospital was ready to help him start applying for a work visa. “And what about the lawyer?” asked Andre. “We will pay for one,” promised the employer.
Next to her, Rich Duvall, an administrator from Carthage Area Hospital, was trying to lure a doctor from India to work for him. He described the advantages of living in this area of New York State: winter sports, a river, camping, mountains and, thanks to soldiers from nearby Fort Drum, a multi-national population.
