Boundary-Similkameen MLA said more health care assistant training to support Kootenay/Boundary seniors
By Boundary Sentinel
Newly sworn in MLA for Boundary-Similkameen said in a media release that more training opportunities for health care assistants at Selkirk College will strengthen the level of care for people in long-term care and assisted living residences.
“Healthcare workers in British Columbia have shown their skill, dedication and compassion for people throughout the pandemic,” Boundary-Similkameen MLA Roly Russell said.
“Training more health care assistants in rural communities like ours will provide good jobs and better healthcare for people across BC.”
Russell, who defeated Petra Veintimilla of the BC Liberal Party in the October 2020 Provincial Election, said the New Democrat government is creating 61 new seats in the health care assistant program at Selkirk College, some of 600 new seats being created at public post-secondary institutions across the province, as part of the Health Career Access Program, for a total investment of $8.4 million.
Participants in the program will work in long-term care or assisted living residences as health care support workers, while completing courses to become health care assistants.
Health care assistants provide personal care for seniors, people with disabilities, and people with acute or chronic illnesses in hospitals, long-term care homes, assisted living facilities, group homes, and in the community.
This investment is part of B.C.’s Economic Recovery Plan, to help people, businesses and communities recover and come out of COVID-19 stronger and better prepared. B.C.’s total provincial response to the COVID-19 pandemic exceeds $8.25 billion.
