The solution to New York’s healthcare staffing crisis? New arrivals.

Healthcare providers across New York are struggling — struggling to bolster a workforce that was severely impacted by COVID-19. Some 20% of caregivers left the healthcare field during the pandemic, deepening a workforce shortage that had already been growing acute.

This current healthcare staffing crisis — which is not limited to nursing homes and significantly affects hospitals and homecare services as well — deserves urgent attention. But the solution could be right in front of our faces. Today, there is a real opportunity to bolster New York’s caregiving workforce by providing avenues for newly-arrived immigrants to enter the healthcare field and keep New York safe and healthy.

As vice president of Human Resources of Cabrini at Westchester — a non-profit skilled nursing facility with 304 beds — I have never faced as much difficulty in hiring essential workers like certified nursing assistants, or CNAs, and nurses as I do now.

CNAs are the primary caregivers in nursing homes, and they are responsible for helping residents with their activities of daily living, including dressing, eating, and bathing. But during the height of COVID, training classes for CNAs across the state were shut down. When classes finally resumed, there weren’t enough registered nurses to teach them. Post-pandemic, there continues to be an exodus of healthcare workers across the industry.

Financially, this has put a significant strain on resources, giving us no other choice but to pay recruiters inordinate amounts of money to find staff — such as offering referral fees and paying top dollar for agency workers. For a mission-driven organization reliant primarily on (inadequate) Medicaid funding, this is simply unsustainable.

The reality is that immigrants are already the backbone of our healthcare system. About 58% of direct care workers in New York were born in another country. My nursing home — named after Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants — fittingly has a staff that hails from across the globe.

In an effort to continue the mission of our namesake, Cabrini has a satellite program in downtown Dobbs Ferry, which works to offer assistance to immigrants. Cabrini Immigrant Services offers support to new arrivals in a variety of areas, including after-school assistance, child literacy and GED programs.In October, we launched a CNA apprenticeship program to create a new avenue to develop career paths for immigrants who are eligible. One of our current apprentices, Eloisa, came to the United States about seven years ago to pursue the American Dream and a better life for her husband and two children.

Eloisa has wanted to help patients since she was little. She was a doctor in El Salvador but had to work three jobs here — and she still couldn’t make ends meet. Thanks to this apprenticeship, Eloisa is expected to finish her training and become a CNA in March, securing a good-paying job for her family while also helping New York address an urgent staffing shortage.

New York is rich because of our immigrant history. In fact, throughout our state’s history, immigrants have helped keep the state afloat. It is only fitting that we now look to our new neighbors to help us fill the gaps in our healthcare labor force. At a time when there is so much animosity toward immigrants in this country, we must remember that we are a state that has been built by generations of people who have come here and invested in our collective prosperity with their work.

Many of the jobs we need filled are entry-level and do not require years of training or advanced or professional degrees. Additionally, many of the people who are immigrating to New York are willing to go past the New York City limits and bring their work to other parts of the state to help prop up the healthcare system statewide.

New arrivals in New York are in search of a better life. They are not a threat to our state or economy, as some suggest. On the contrary, these individuals can fill vital caregiving roles that New York desperately needs — but only if we create opportunities for them.

Eloisa is an example of what’s possible when we work together to build a more welcoming and compassionate New York, and harness the dedication and work ethic countless people like Eloisa bring here.

This is our moment to show the country who New Yorkers are.

Simone Smith is vice president of HR and volunteers at Cabrini of Westchester.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: The solution to New York’s healthcare staffing crisis? New arrivals.