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$73,000 may ease local CNA shortage Health-care groups join for training grant By Bill Kettler Rogue Valley nursing homes and hospitals hope a federal job-training grant will help them stop stealing from each other. Certified nursing assistants, or CNAs, have been in short supply locally for years. Last fall, nearly two dozen nursing homes and retirement centers decided to stop fighting over the available workers and work together to create a training program that will increase the supply of CNAs. "For years in this business, we knew we were stealing (employees) from each other," said Tamara Nordin of Rogue Valley Manor. "As soon as we started talking, we realized we had the same problems." In November, Nordin organized a consortium of nursing homes, retirement centers and hospitals to seek funds to train CNAs. Among them, they had 71 unfilled CNA positions when they sat down to talk about their common problems. "That�s just a drop in the bucket with all the (health-care) providers out there," she said. "At any given time there�s probably about 200 unfilled CNA positions." The consortium won a $73,000 grant from the federal Current Workforce Skill Development Program and hopes to train at least 100 CNAs during the next 12 months. Members of the consortium will provide classroom space as in-kind contributions. Nursing assistants perform basic patient care that does not require medical training. They feed and dress patients who cannot manage for themselves, bathe them and assist them with personal hygiene. Entry-level jobs pay around $8 an hour. CNAs with experience can earn $9 and hour and those with special training can earn $10. "It�s hard work," said Mike Parra, Rogue Community College�s training services coordinator. "There�s a lot of turnover." RCC provides CNA training in its regular class offerings, but the grant will allow the college to create a "fast-track" training program for CNAs. Students will attend class eight hours a day for four days a week to complete the required 150 hours of instruction in just five weeks. Completing the course will qualify students for state certification. "It takes a real commitment," Nordin said. "Students have to be willing to put their personal things aside for a while." Tuition for the program is $450. A portion of the federal grant has been set aside for scholarships for people who cannot afford the tuition. The program is designed to help people who are already working to move into higher-paying jobs, said Dennis Alexander, a work-force training administrator for The Job Council. Previous federal job-training programs have focused on unemployed people or youths who are entering the job market. "There�s a new focus to help working people learn new job skills and get better jobs, and better-paying jobs," Alexander said. The same program has paid for skills development projects at Bear Creek Corp., Batzer Construction and Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries. Nordin said the program could ultimately help reduce the shortage of nurses of all kinds in Southern Oregon. "If (new CNAs) see there are opportunities in nursing," she said, "they may decide to continue their education." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.