DETROIT, Oct. 12, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Metro Healthcare Services announces the appointment of Rose Khalifa, RN, BSN, as its new executive director, effective September 21, 2007.

Khalifa served as interim director from April till her election by the board of directors as permanent executive director. She is responsible for establishing and executing major objectives of the institution and representing Metro Healthcare to regulatory agencies and in the community.

She had been a clinical nurse educator in the Transcultural Services Department at Oakwood Healthcare System in Dearborn from July 1998 through March 2007 where she developed and trained hospital employees on cultural diversity of their patients; audited patient care to ensure cultural issues were addressed with the patient; launched the nation's first Arabic prenatal class; and led the Language Library initiative.

Khalifa holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Davenport University and Associate degrees in nursing, arts, science and commerce from Henry Ford Community College, both in Dearborn. She is also a certified national trainer on Cultural Competence in Healthcare. A frequent presenter and lecturer, she is the author of ``Post 9/11 Work Environment of American Arab Nurses,'' which will appear in the Transcultural Nursing Journal. She holds the 2004 Henry Ford Community College Outstanding Alumni Award, the 2003 YWCA Women of Achievement Award for Volunteer Service, the 2002 Nursing Excellence Award for Midwest/Great Lakes and the 2002 Florence Nightingale Award for Nursing Education and Research from Oakland University.

MHS is a non-profit Detroit corporation that aggregates and distributes healthcare funds from federal, state and local sources to organizations serving the vulnerable of Wayne County. MHS partners include health departments, hospitals and insurance plans. For more information on MHS, visit http://www.metrohcs.org or contact (313) 963-8383 or info@metrohcs.org.

A high-resolution photo of Rose Khalifa can be found at http://www.metrohcs.org

         Metro Healthcare Services
         Rose Khalifa 
         313-963-8383
         info@metrohcs.org