The mannequin does not respond as students practice moving it from the bed to the wheelchair and then back again, but they still treat it gingerly, as if it could break.

Silence fills the room, tucked away in a community college building, as students concentrate on the tasks at hand. But if they spoke, the air would be filled with the accents of people from all over the world -- Togo and Ukraine, Ghana and Peru, Bosnia and Cameroon.

All have been living in Pittsburgh, and are being trained as nurses aides in a program run by the Jewish Family & Children's Service of Pittsburgh and the Community College of Allegheny County. It seeks to supplement the health care field with trained and ambitious workers, while attracting diversity to Pittsburgh.

It's targeted at tackling two tough tasks: getting people to stay in nursing, and stopping the "brain drain" of motivated professionals from Pittsburgh.

Other programs across the country have tried to recruit nurses from other countries to move to the United States, but the Pittsburgh program from the outset was designed to retain people who had already immigrated to the city.

While 21 out of the 22 program participants are immigrants, all had been living in Pittsburgh before the program began. I

The Jewish Family & Children's Service program decided to recruit from within, which also dovetailed with the organization's mission of welcoming immigrants to the Pittsburgh community. They sent out bilingual fliers to areas with immigrant populations, got dozens of calls, but only had the funding to provide the classes free to 20 individuals.

"Most are overqualified," said Linda Ehrenreich, director of the family/children's service agency. "We hope this is the beginning of the career ladder, and the benefits and opportunities for them will continue to grow as they climb the career ladder."

Cesar Kouanvi Askoussan, 37, of Greentree, is already on his way up that ladder. He moved here from Togo in June, and works at both an HIV/AIDS prevention organization and as a risk reduction counselor in the county jail.

But he wanted to work more closely with patients, and saw this program as a necessary step towards his eventual goal of becoming a nurse.

"I'm always working hard somewhere," said Askoussan, who is on the go for more than 12 hours a day at his numerous jobs. "If you want to be successful here, you have to be a hard worker."

The program, which is funded through the Department of Health and CCAC, fits people like Askoussan well because of its flexibility. Students attend the 168 hours of class time when their work schedules permit. Classes are geared to help students cope with cultural and language differences as well.

Of the 22 enrolled, 17 have completed the program, and 5 are employed at assisted living or medical facilities in the region. Few of the graduates so far have had any trouble finding work.

"It's an excellent field to go into," said Janette Brown, director for nursing training at CCAC. "Everyone is looking for nurses aides."