Remote schooling expands opportunities for students

Cambrian College’s School of Health Sciences may have saved the jobs of nine people who work on Manitoulin Island.

A year ago, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced new regulation that required all personal support workers to be certified by July 2011 in order to maintain their positions at long-term care facilities. The requirement affected seven nurses’ aides working at Manitoulin Lodge in Gore Bay and two nurses’ aides working at Centennial Manor in Little Current.

Administrators with the two facilities contacted Cambrian College to see if there workers could be certified quickly without leaving Island and Cambrian condensed its eight-month Personal Support Worker program to just three months with lectures that were recorded and sent via the web to Gore Bay and Little Current.

Students paid their own tuition and were scheduled to participate in classes delivered by a professor in Sudbury. Cambrian also hired a professor on Manitoulin Island to deliver the clinical component of the course locally.
“The staff members are excellent workers, but without this certification, we couldn’t continue to offer them employment,” explained Terri Buck-Orr, assistant director of care at Centennial Manor.

Debbie Wright, administrator of the Lodge, said the College’s quick response benefitted the students and her facility.

“Cambrian was able to bring together a program which not only met the provincial requirements, but also allowed staff to complete it within the timeline, taking classes and doing their clinical placement hours at our facilities,” she said.

“We reached out to help an industry in need in a very short period of time,” said Dan Draper, dean of the School of Health Sciences. “It required a concerted effort on behalf of the Registrar’s office, Admissions, the School of Health Sciences, and our Information Technology department. This is part of Cambrian’s ongoing commitment to meet the needs of a diverse population of learners in remote regions of Northern Ontario.”

Cambrian’s use of virtual learning to enhance programs continues to expand. Courses in the Early Childhood Education and Developmental Services programs can be completed remotely. Cambrian also offers virtual learning in concert with Confederation College to students in the Medical Laboratory Technician program who reside in Thunder Bay. Further, the College uses technology to bring experts into the classroom to deliver regular and guest lectures.