Spotlight Report Excerpt: On Connecting Immigrant Talent to Healthcare Careers

The below letter from IINE President & CEO Jeff Thielman is an excerpt from our September 2026 Spotlight Report on Connecting Immigrant Talent to Healthcare Careers.

To learn more about IINE’s healthcare training programs, our partnerships with local hospitals and facilities, and how you can help immigrants find meaningful careers and fill critical roles, read the full Spotlight Report.

In her application for IINE’s nursing assistant training program, Nininahazwe, a refugee from Burundi, wrote, “I need proper
training and experience to help others in the right way, because I feel happy helping another person who needs it.”

We hear this often. Our clients are looking for a way to support themselves and their families, and also to contribute
meaningfully to the community that has welcomed them. For many, the pathway is healthcare.

Nationally, immigrants represent nearly one in five healthcare workers and are especially represented in essential, patientfacing positions. Many Americans became acutely aware of this during the COVID-19 pandemic when immigrants accounted for
the majority of “essential workers,” continuing to show up in person to jobs in hospitals, health centers, nursing homes, and inhome care. Their heroic efforts helped us survive one of the greatest public health crises in our recent history.

In Massachusetts, immigrants fill 19% of all healthcare jobs and nearly half (46%) of home healthcare positions. Demand for
these workers will continue to grow as the population ages and a large share of the current workforce approaches retirement—
New Hampshire alone is projected to see about 80,000 healthcare workers leave or transition out of the field by 2032. At
the same time, the population of adults aged 65 and older in Massachusetts and New Hampshire is expected to increase by
more than 475,000 people, bringing the region’s older adult population to more than 2 million. This demographic shift will significantly increase demand for nurses, licensed nursing assistants, home health aides, long-term care workers, and other
aging-related services. Refugees and immigrants are already helping to fill critical workforce gaps and will play an increasingly
important role in supporting the healthcare needs of both states.

IINE first developed healthcare programs in the 1940s when we began providing Red Cross training to newcomers who wanted to
assist with the war effort. Over the years, our programs have evolved to meet the needs of the moment, leading us to partner
today with university medical schools to provide free nursing and medical assistant training to hundreds of immigrants.

Unfortunately, while the need for skilled healthcare workers is only increasing, immigration policy and government funding for
training programs like IINE’s are now both in jeopardy.

That’s why your investment makes all the difference—for our clients seeking meaningful career paths, for healthcare
employers in need of reliable talent, and for all of us who benefit from quality care.