BC has a shortage of health care assistants and the pandemic has only exacerbated it.
But a program that offers free education to those who want to enter the profession is trying to fill that gap.
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A new group of Okanagan students will begin training next month and could work in local care homes by the end of the year.
The training program is necessary because, while a large number of people have become caregivers in the past year, the BC Care Providers Association estimates that there are still hundreds of vacancies.
“The demand for COVID was huge and there were a lot of vacancies in these positions across the province,” said Terry Lake, CEO of the BC Care Providers Association.
“COVID has made it worse in several ways: some people have left the sector due to COVID and the single-premises order means that you can only work in one care home at a time. It has therefore increased the number of healthcare assistants needed across the sector. ”
With the help of government grant funding, the BC Care Providers Association, which represents senior facilities across the province, is partnering with Discovery Community College to offer a free 38-week training program for those interested in becoming caregivers.
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The college said alumni of the Health Care Assistant Training Program immediately got jobs.
“There really is no stumbling block in employment,” said Joanne Funk, the director of student operations at the college’s health and humanities programs.
“Those employers try to catch them before they finish their training and they graduate … If a student has those right skills and a good attitude, they can choose where they really want to work.”
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A cohort of more than 30 aspiring health care assistants will begin the program in Vernon and Kelowna next month.
“We have such a need to take care of our vulnerable population. Our senior citizens need well-trained health workers to be at long-term care facilities [and] at assistance. “Our goal is to try to alleviate the pressure that the current health care workers are currently experiencing,” said Funk.
The training program is still accepting applications for the upcoming Vernon and Kelowna sessions.
Graduates are expected to fill vacancies by the end of 2022.
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