COVID-19 training program coming to Red River College
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2020 (2001 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Red River College has partnered with the Manitoba government to deliver a new training program that will provide more health-care workers and students with the skills necessary to lend a hand at COVID-19 testing sites.
The training course — dubbed a “micro-credential” — will teach health-care professionals and students studying to become health-care professionals how to safely perform a nasal swab to collect samples for COVID-19 tests, stated a news release sent Wednesday afternoon.
“Protecting the health and safety of Manitobans remains our number one priority,” Premier Brian Pallister said in the release.“Our government is expanding our COVID-19 testing capacity to reduce wait times to get a test. This partnership with Red River College will enable us to provide essential training opportunities to highly skilled health-care workers, who can now join our efforts to help stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities.”
The course is being delivered using a blend of online and in-person learning and can be completed in as few as five hours, the release said. Students are able to access the course tuition-free through the Red River College School of Continuing Education.
The course is accompanied by a ministerial order that allows for more health-care professionals and students to perform COVID-19 testing nasal swabs. The expanded personnel includes students in at the least their second year of nursing, psychiatric nursing and LPN programs, second-year medical and physician assistant students at the University of Manitoba and students enrolled in paramedicine or respiratory therapy programs, as well as health-care aides, lab techs, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, pharmacists and people that are qualified to practise certain regulated health professions outside of Manitoba or Canada.
Completion of the program will provide a direct path to possible employment at a COVID-19 testing site. Successful participants will have their name added to a pool of qualified candidates that can support test sites in Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba.
Registration for the program is now open and the first intake begins on Oct. 19 with new intakes being offered weekly. The college will initially train 30 students per week.
Danielle Adriaansen, acting vice-president of Assiniboine International at Assiniboine Community College, said that while the college does not currently have any similar training programs in the works, if the province was interested in delivering this type of training in other locations across Manitoba that “Assiniboine would be happy to help.”
The Sun reached out to Brandon University to inquire if there were plans to offer similar programming through the school but did not receive a definitive response by deadline.
» eklatt@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @emdashklatt