Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo will be a training ground for a future graduating class of health-care assistants who will support seniors in B.C.
The provincial government announced its $8.4-million health career access program this past fall, and this past week it provided details on the partner institutions.
VIU will receive funding for 72 program seats at campuses in Nanaimo, Cowichan and Powell River as part of an effort to provide a “boost for training to address staffing needs in assisted-living and long-term care facilities aggravated by COVID-19,” said a press release from B.C.’s Ministry of Health.
The ministry noted one-time funding boosts for these sort of program seats are in addition to funding for more than 1,000 ongoing health-care assistant seats provincewide.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said in the release that the program, already underway, is part of a plan to “expand the number of health-care assistants working in B.C. to strengthen the level of care for people in long-term care homes and assisted-living residences” and the workers being trained will fill “some of the most important jobs in B.C.”
READ ALSO: Province announces funding for VIU to train mental health workers
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