ON A NEW CAREER PATH
Laura Cunningham remembers watching in awe as the team of specialists worked tirelessly to save her mother’s life after she was struck with a mysterious illness five years ago.
“If it wasn’t for all the care that they gave her, I don’t think she would be here still,” Cunningham said of her mother, who suffers from a rare inflammatory condition called Dermatomyositis — a disease marked by muscle weakness and a distinctive skin rash.
With those indelible images seared in her mind, an inspired Cunningham ultimately decided to give up her fiveyear job at a large cosmetic chain and in early March began training to become a medical assistant through Jobtrain, Inc. — a 55-year- old nonprofit that provides free career training and education to low-income workers in Silicon Valley, helps their clients find jobs and assists them with a wide-range of support services.
“I just want to do that for someone else.” said Cunningham, 28, a life-long resident of South San Francisco, as she recalled the compassionate and attentive care her mom received during her three-month hospital stay.
But no sooner had she started training, then the coronavirus pandemic turned everything on it’s head — especially, impacting the folks that Jobtrain serves, and increasing the need for its services more than ever.
So, the agency is pressing on.
“The goal is to get people into new careers,” said Patty Rally, “not just a first job.”