International Information

Western Home Communities is working with an authorized sponsor organization to hire temporary employees through the State Department’s J-1 Visa Program. The program launches in May 2022 when the first group of international interns arrives from Jamaica, approved to stay for one year.

To receive a J-1 visa, the interns must be out of high school and enrolled in a post-secondary academic institution, or they must have completed their post-secondary academic program within the past year(college, university or certified training program). The interns accepted by Western Home Communities range in age from 21 to 41.

They are coming in the hospitality and tourism category, which encompasses three areas: food and beverage (table set-up and tear down, wait staff, dishwashing, service). culinary (menu planning, food prep, cooking, kitchen operations)and front desk (customer service).

Each intern is required to complete their assigned program in one of those three areas. This is their primary responsibility so you will see them working in the kitchens, dining rooms, restaurant, event center and at the front desks.

Many of them want to work more hours and learn about other areas of senior living beyond the required program.

The Western Home Communities Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion,Norman Grant, is a native of Jamaica who first came to the United States on a J-1 visa 20 years ago. Norman traveled to his homeland in mid-February to interview and select prospective employees. Chef Jim Nadeau and Amy Dall from dining services also conducted virtual interviews.

FAQs

The J-1 Exchange Visitor Program of the U.S. State Department started in 1961 through the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act. Its mission is to increase mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries.
CEO Kris Hansen started pursuing the requirements for developing an international workforce several years ago, as he recognized that a developing health care worker shortage would not be solved quickly or easily. The pandemic brought exacerbated the worker shortage in all areas of operations. Kris hired aformer executive chef, Norman Grant, to move back from Tennessee and start an equity, diversity and inclusion program, which includes international outreach efforts, and it led to this.
Interns must be enrolled in a college, university or certification training program, or they must have completed that program within the past year. Beyond that, they must want to learn and enhance their skills in another culture.
Thirteen of our interns have previously been to the United States for the summer work travel program, a four-month programproviding employees in tourist areas.
We expect the first group of 34 to arrive by mid-May. Details on the specific date are being worked out. Another group of 45 will arrive a few weeks later.
Yes. English is Jamaica’s official language.
Yes, they must attend orientation and the onboarding required for their positions, just as any other employee does, and have background checks. (They already passed through state department background checks before being allowed to interview.) They will also take the online education courses required of all employees, such as dependent adult abuse training, and others for their specific areas such as food safety practices. They must be vaccinated for COVID-19 before entering the United States.
They are each assigned to one of three hospitality fields of study: food and beverage, culinary or front desk. Those will be their primary rolesin our dining rooms, kitchens, restaurant, event center and at the front desks.
No, not at all. They will work alongside our current employees. We are still recruiting many more employees and that will not stop because of this program.
They will be paid the same as other new employees for their specific positions.
The students will pay monthly rent for a room at our StanardFamily building on the downtown campus. This was previously an assisted living community but was consolidated with Windhaven in the fall of 2021. The apartments do not have kitchens but they will be able to prepare meals in one of the building’s kitchens(commons, solarium, dining room).
We are still working out all the details. We will provide MET bus routes for themand likely use some WHC buses as well. It’s possible that a few of the interns may obtain commercial driver’s licenses so they can drive WHC vehicles for work transportation purposes.
The interns return home to share their exchange experiencesas they build careers in Jamaica. That is what is expected of all participants in the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program.
That is our goal, to keep the program going and stagger intern arrivals so we don’t always start over with an entirely new group; we are approved for more interns (up to 10% of our workforce) so we may interview and select more interns for a fall arrival. It is also possible we will expand the program to other countries at some point.