A major recruitment campaign is underway to attract more health care aides to fill an urgent need in both acute and continuing care.
In order to fill the gap, the province believes it needs to hire as many as 400 aides and will help them get the proper education. In order to do this, the government will offer grants to students at Norquest College in Edmonton and Bow Valley College in Calgary.
"This is a proactive step to make sure we don't end up with a shortage," says Chief Nursing Officer for Alberta Health Services, Deb Gordon.
In some cases language training costs may be paid for by the province.
The reason for the large need is because of an aging population and a large number of nurses set to retire.
“As you know we’ve made the commitment to add 1000 continuing care beds every year,” says Gordon, “in addition to that we are growing acute care capacity so we want to make sure that we have all the team members we need, including the health care aids, to meet the needs of our programs and services so we can best serve patients and families.”
The Alberta Nurses Union is watching the program closely to make sure any shortages are filled with qualified people.
“In health care with increasing complexity, and acuity, its always a matter of whether you have the right mix and number of providers...the right skill mix,” says Smith. “It's a very delicate balance and it's a matter of patient safety, whether or not a Licensed Practical Nurse or personal care aide is appropriate versus a registered nurse.”
The Health Care Aid program is a 16 week course and more information can be found on the Health Care Aide grant program site.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.