A new initiative is being rolled out at College Boreal to boost enrolment in the Personal Support Worker (PSW) program.
The Timmins college has inked a partnership with Extendicare that will see four students offered a job and $1,000 bursary upon graduation from the program.
“It’s pretty common knowledge that there’s a shortage of PSWs throughout the province of Ontario now,” said Kelly Roy, Extendicare administrator.
She said the issue has been a long-standing one in longterm care and hospitals.
The partnership is a way to encourage people to become a PSW, which she said is a rewarding career.
The agreement is for students registered for the one-year PSW program starting September 2019.
In March 2020, College Boreal postsecondary programs manager Mélanie Dufresne said the students will be interviewed. Extendicare will choose the four winning students.
The employment offer is for part-time work.
“Like all of healthcare, you usually start out as casual part-time, build seniority and then apply for fulltime positions as your seniority builds. We are seeing our staff are getting older, are retiring, are changing from full time to part time,” explained Roy.
Even working part-time hours, she said there is the opportunity to work up to fulltime hours.
For now, the partnership commitment is for the 2019-2020 school year.
There is potential for it to be ongoing, though.
“I’m anticipating that it will be an ongoing thing for Extendicare to promote the enrolment of PSWs. This shortage is not going to be fixed in one year, this is going to take us several years,” Roy said.
Personal support workers provide direct care to patients for things like hygiene, social interaction, bathing, or help feeding, according to College Boreal's PSW co-ordinator Val Léonard-Jetté.
“They’re the frontline workers, if there’s anything wrong with these patients...a little bo-bo somewhere, they’re going to be the ones to find it right away,” she said.
College Boreal director Jean-Pierre Nadon said this innovative approach is an example the need for community colleges.
“We’re there to supply...the qualified workforce, to fill those positions and this is why we’re very excited to be part of this initiative,” he said.
As communities across the province fight to recruit the workers, he hopes the incentive will encourage people to enrol at College Boreal.
With a post-secondary institute offering qualified faculty, great partnerships with industry and a job at the end of the year — he hopes it will encourage people to stay in the communtity.
“This is why we need to increase the awareness amongst the parents, you don’t need to send your kid out of town to get their education,” he said.
As people get older, he also noted that their mother tongue takes over for people who are bilingual.
“We have the best opportunity here to provide bilingual qualified workforce to assist with Extendicare,” he said.
