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Healthcare Students at South Bronx Job Corps Are Moving on to Fertile Ground

Video Shot Prior to COVID-19 Pandemic

Kasriel Zakutinsky makes his way onto the South Bronx Job Corps campus. He’s headed straight for the healthcare trade, looking for future certified nursing assistants and other healthcare professionals.Healthcare Students South Bronx

Kasriel works for Five-Star Nursing, a large healthcare staffing agency that services more than 200 facilities in the Northeast. We asked him if there was a need for healthcare workers.

Healthcare Students South Bronx“Oh, yeah. You have no idea. We can, I always tell everybody, ‘if we had 100 CNAs come in and apply, we could give all of them gainful employment…This is a booming economy for healthcare, and there are so many positions opening up simply because somebody who was a CNA for a couple of years, they’re advancing. They’re becoming LPNs. They’re becoming RNs, and there’s just such a need for all these students, whether they want to work full-time or part-time, there’s a need for them. There’s jobs like crazy for them.”

Five-Star Nursing has partnered with Job Corps for the past three years. Kasriel says he didn’t know much about the program, but all it took was a visit.

“Once I went to the sites, and I’ve been so far at five campuses, and I’ve seen what they do; it’s life-changing what they do. It’s great. I deal with plenty of schools, colleges, training centers, and I love the program. I love the students.”Healthcare Students South Bronx

He says they’ve been pleased with the quality of graduates coming from Job Corps.

Healthcare Students South Bronx 2“Everyone here is disciplined. They do a great job of what they do…Not only are they skilled and qualified, I believe they’re the most skilled and the most qualified…If I say we’ve hired 100 students since we started, that wouldn’t be an exaggeration. We have plenty of students in plenty of different capacities that we hire.”