Rehab center looks to sponsor future nurse assistants’ certification

NEW MILFORD — The Village Crest Center for Health and Rehabilitation is looking to sponsor 15 individuals interested in becoming certified nurse assistants and getting a job.

The center partnered with the Academy of Medical Training to sponsor future nurse assistants’ learning and certification.

“We saw a need for CNA sponsorship because not everyone can afford to actually pay for the course, and we had a lot of outreach from the community. There were people that, when

COVID kind of struck, they saw healthcare was really a viable option for them and they wanted to be apart and help,” Village Crest Director of Admissions and Hiring Kevin Venturini said.

Village Crest pays for each person’s training with the academy, but students have to make a one-year commitment to work for the center after completing the program. The only requirements needed are “a high school diploma and passion for health care,” Venturini said.

Village Crest has already sponsored about 15 students and is looking to put more people through the course, Venturini said. The course teaches individuals basic healthcare competencies including patient care and how to work with varying diagnoses in a little over three weeks, Venturini said.

Teri Rampolla — a realtor turned CNA who went through the program — said the classes gave her a great foundation to step into the nursing home and doing her orientation there made it a “fluid transition.”

Now, about a year later, Rampolla is still happily working for the center.

“The fact that they offered certification in a timeframe I was able to do, including a job I was able to step into was just more than I ever dreamed of,” Rampolla said.

The program, according to Venturini, is “mutually beneficial” to the center and incoming students.

“When the pandemic hit, we did see a definite need for frontline workers, so Village saw this as an opportunity to help people get into it and staff according to the needs of the pandemic, and it’s been amazing. It’s made such a huge difference and we’ve gotten some really great talent out of it,” Venturini said.