Health worker

Photo: ScandinavianStockPhoto, Fred Goldstein.

We meet Rosa, a health worker

My name is Rosa Melo, and I come from Chile. I came to Norway in 1984.

I trained as a midwife in Chile, but my training was not approved in Norway. So I had to take three years of nurse’s training here.

Now I work as a unit manager at a nursing home. I’m responsible for all the employees and all the residents in the unit. I also have a lot of contact with the residents’ relatives.

We need good health workers in Norway. It’s wrong to say that we simply need more hands for care of the elderly; what we really need is more hands with professional qualifications.

Working in the health sector is hard work, and most people in these positions are women.

All the same, the work is interesting, and I would recommend it to others. I think that immigrants who get a job in the health sector are more easily integrated into Norwegian society. Everyone must speak Norwegian on the job.