Elaine a step closer to nursing dream
A CAOL woman with aspirations of being a nurse has taken a big step towards making her dream a reality. Earlier this month, The Oban
Times ran a story about Elaine Stoddart after she launched a social media campaign to gauge interest in the number of people who would like to be able to study nursing in Lochaber.
Potential Fort William students had taken to Facebook to express their disappointment at being unable to study for a nursing degree in their home town, having to travel almost 200 miles to Stornoway or more than 60 miles to Inverness if they wanted to undertake a course.
Elaine, a health care assistant at Tweedale medical practice, Fort William, for 16 years quit her job recently to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse.
The Oban Times article prompted Elaine to visit The University of the Highlands and Island’s Fort William college last week and the 33-year- old has now enrolled to study full time.
Elaine signed up to a one-year social services course and said it is exactly ‘the push’ she needed: ‘It’s going to be a big change and I am a bit scared. I have worked at Tweedale for 16 years, so I am nervous. I haven’t studied for years.’
Elaine told The Oban Times she will be doing two days a week in college and two days on placement at the Belford Hospital staring in August.
‘I wouldn’t have been aware of the course had I not been able to talk to people at the college.’
Lydia Rohmer, principal and chief executive, said: ‘ We are determined to introduce a curriculum in all areas, including healthcare and childcare that will give people in our local communities the opportunities to study now for local jobs of the future. Our recently expanded portfolio of health, social care and childcare courses are proving extremely popular with students and employers, and can lead to substantive career development opportunities.’
Mandy Cameron, from Carr Gomm, which provides community and home-based support for people with additional needs and disabilities, said: ‘ Working in the social care sector is extremely rewarding and enjoyable but because there can be a negative perception of what the job entails and the challenges it can sometimes present, it can be difficult to recruit.
‘We decided we should adopt a more creative approach to recruitment.
‘That is why Carr Gomm contacted West Highland College UHI to see if there was anything we could get involved with that might help lead to an uptake in staff.’