Resident Care Attendant / Home Support - Health Care Assistant MEMO - Changes to RCA / Home Support Program Program Overview- Learn more about the Health Care Assistant Certificate Program starting March 2010 Overview Have a caring and compassionate attitude? Strong emotional resolve? Great patience? A sense of professionalism? Consider a career as a Resident Care Attendant. Graduates of our Resident Care Attendant Diploma Program are successfully employed in Extended and Intermediate Care Facilities, Home Support Agencies, Adult Day Care Centres, and Assisted Living residences. While the majority of RCA graduates provide care for seniors, our program prepares you to care for adults with a wide variety of chronic health conditions. To meet the needs of our aging population, Health Regions across BC are opening thousands of new residential and assisted living units; the staffing needs for Resident Care Attendants have never been greater. This is an excellent time to consider training and employment in this rewarding field as opportunities abound! Stenberg College is proud to have the distinction of being the first private post-secondary institution in Canada to be granted academic credit for its Resident Care Attendant Program. Here’s more information about this important career choice... Typical Job Duties As a Resident Care Attendant, you’ll be working with elderly people who will depend on you for quality daily care, encouragement, and support. Your challenge will be to foster and maintain the client’s independence and trust. You will be looking after people who have diminished abilities for self-care. Their friends and families must feel that they can trust you to look after their loved ones. Workplaces include care facilities, hospices, and even seniors’ private homes. You’ll need to develop skills in offering personal care, assisting with mobility, understanding basic anatomy and physiology, developing good communication skills, and caring for a person with dementia. Working with the elderly may also involve palliative care, which emphasizes easing the person’s pain, enhancing their quality of life, and supporting their family. While working in a care home, you will need to follow instructions from directors of care, registered nurses, and staff. You’ll also be required to make observations and to note problems. Listening and communicating with healthcare professionals and residents are key abilities. Potential Employers As a Resident Care Attendant, you could find employment in a: Extended, intermediate, or assisted living care facility Home support agency Hospice Adult care centre for seniors Private home You may choose to be self-employed, working independently as a personal care attendant. Top Reasons to Choose Stenberg Stenberg College’s Resident Care Attendant program mimics how the real world works; you’ll collaborate with other students and work through the program together. This collaborative experience will give you an advantage when you start your first job. The program is rigorous. You’ll be well-prepared and work-ready, confident that you can handle anything that comes your way. Stenberg College graduates are recognized in the workplace for their high professional standards. Each instructor is an expert in the content area being taught. Instructors have real world experience, so they can draw upon their own extensive work scenarios to broaden your education. The program is regularly reviewed and updated in consultation with industry to ensure that it meets the needs and expectations of employers. More than simply learning a set of technical skills, our programs inspire and enhance personal growth and development. Stenberg College is committed to empowerment through education and ensures that students have the fundamental skills to excel in their program and to succeed in their life, both personally and professionally. In its commitment to student success, Stenberg College offers its students an unparalleled range of support services including free ESL programs, study and life skills coaching, typing tutorials and campus life events. Our Career and Graduate Services staff members organize industry presentations on a quarterly basis. Recruiters come and speak directly to students prior to graduation. We are committed to helping you find employment immediately upon graduation. Speak to your Program Advisor for more details. Wages and Career Outlook Based on employment statistics gathered by Stenberg College, the wage range of students who completed the Resident Care Attendant program and are working in their field of study is $17 to $21 per hour. Use the following sites to obtain more career information. The related national occupation classification numbers – a system used to group jobs – is "3413”. Please realize that these figures are based on groupings of a large number of related jobs. Wages and career outlook may differ due to education level, job location, and type of employer. The following list shows some other sources for career research. By no means is this a comprehensive list, but it is a place to start: BC Work Futures, http://www.workfutures.bc.ca/ Fraser Health Authority, http://www.fraserhealth.ca/ Vancouver Coastal Health, http://www.vanhosp.bc.ca/ Provincial Government Jobbank, http://www.jobsetc.ca/ Mission Community Skills Centre Society http://www.missioncsc.org/webzone/ Alberta Occupational Profiles, http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/occinfo Ontario Job Futures, http://www.ontariojobfutures.ca/ Is This Program for You? It is if you: are a compassionate individual can imagine yourself helping the elderly to meet their basic needs, such as getting out of bed, eating, and showering would like to work in a hospital or resident care setting have a sincere interest in helping others Program Admission Requirements Completion of Grade 12 or 19 years of age or older Passing Entrance Examination with a score of 70% or more Passing formal entrance interview with a score of 70% or more Successful completion of a short written essay Passing Verbal Test of English if English is a Second Language Students must provide the following to their Program Advisor prior to program start: Acceptable criminal record check Acceptable medical examination report Negative TB test report or clear chest X-ray Immunizations as required by industry at time of application Duration and Financing Duration: 26 weeks including clinical work and practicum Financing: You could be eligible for ELMS funding, government student loans and other financing options; the Stenberg College Financial Aid Officer would be happy to provide further assistance. Additional Certification The program also includes essential industry-related training and certification in: CPR/HCP/AED You’ll receive Red Cross First Aid Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Health Care Provider (HCP) and Automated External Defibrillation (AED). This industry standard certification is valid for three years. Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System WHMIS trainers provide information about materials in the workplace that can be hazardous, such as cleaning agents, compressed gases and flammable materials. Becoming WHMIS certified will demonstrate that you are able to identify hazardous materials and handle them properly. FOODSAFE Level 1 You’ll learn how to prepare food in a way that protects people from injury or illness. Some of the topics covered are food-borne diseases, personal hygiene, and safe procedures for storing. Non-Violent Crisis Intervention For your protection, you’ll learn how to deal with people who are disruptive or out of control, using verbal techniques for de-escalating conflict and restraint techniques when physical intervention is necessary. Program Courses Orientation and Student Success Skills This course will provide a comprehensive orientation to Stenberg College and the program you have enrolled in. As with all new things, there will be some challenges to overcome; however, with this course, you will become familiar with your new environment and the resources available for your use. You will gain effective learning and study strategies and will participate in life skills exercises that teach communication, accountability, teamwork, self-awareness and build understanding of the impact you have on others. Professional Communication In order to promote effective communication with residents and co-workers in a helping relationship, you’ll learn theoretical and practical communication skills in this course. By the end of it, you will demonstrate an awareness of your own communication style and be able to use techniques such as empathy, active listening, probing, and conflict resolution. Team building, decision-making, and planning will be explored from a care-based perspective. You’ll also gain an understanding of basic human needs, the roles of values and professionalism, and professional ethics. Health & Healing / Personal Care Understanding the principles of anatomy and physiology is important to the provision of personal care, and having knowledge of common diseases and disorders experienced by elderly persons. This course will address those issues, as you integrate theory and practice in the provision of personal care for the elderly.You’ll learn and practice personal care skills including all aspects of bathing, personal hygiene, oral care, and assisting with bathroom routines. This will be done in both a lab setting and, later, in an actual work practicum. Providing safe and competent care in the home (home support) is also covered in this module. Aging In this module you’ll explore values and attitudes around the process of aging, as well as the application of these values and attitudes as they relate to the care of the elderly. In addition, you’ll learn more about healthy aging and how it reflects on the elderly in facilities and in home support. Extended and intermediate care facilities and the service delivery format for the elderly will also be discussed. Dementia The purpose of this course is to provide information that will help you as a caregiver to improve your understanding of dementia, your ability to identify problem areas, and to determine interventions that will facilitate the care of individuals and assist their families and staff in coping with various forms of dementia. Practicum Preparation This course will prepare you for your Clinical Instruction experience. Clinical expectations and requirements will be clearly explained, and evaluation methods will be introduced. During this module, you’ll receive additional training in CPR-HCP-AED, WHMIS, FOODSAFE Level 1 and Non-Violent Crisis Intervention. Clinical Instruction You’ll get hands-on experience working with residents in an extended care facility under the guidance of a qualified clinical instructor. You will be required to report for instruction on both day and afternoon shifts, and will be required to reach an established standard of competency. Practicum Your practicum will give you the opportunity to practice the skills you’ve learned in the RCA classroom, and to further develop and master those skills. This course will provide you with practicum experiences that will refine your skills to the level of competency required as a Resident Care Attendant. Career Search Strategies This course focuses on developing professional job search techniques, including; learning styles, leadership styles and success strategies. You will learn how to effectively complete application forms, create cover letters and resumes, build skills and confidence for job interviews, and research labour market trends; all tasks related to getting and keeping a job.

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