Resources to help you launch a career in health care
Helping others, long-term job security, work that is active, social and collaborative – a career in health care can have many perks.
And not every industry or field can match the sense of purpose: health-care workers not only make a difference in someone’s life; they often save them.
These workers are also in incredible demand. Nurses, in particular, are being lured across the country with recruiting bonuses worth thousands of dollars, student loan forgiveness programs, and even mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios rolling out in British Columbia, which may set the standard for other provinces to follow.
For National Nursing Week 2023, here’s a roundup of various resources to help launch a career in health care, from nursing to lab technicians, paramedics to personal support workers (PSWs).
The ‘Learn and Stay’ grant
Free education? A job out of school virtually guaranteed? It’s the student dream, and one that’s true in Ontario with health-care workers in serious demand in certain regions.
Launching in March of last year, Ontario’s Learn and Stay grant was recently expanded to 2,500 students in nursing, paramedics and lab technician programs in areas that need these workers. The programs pays for tuition and books for students who agree to work in the city where they studied for up to two years.
Eligible programs and regions include: Nursing programs in northern, eastern and southwestern Ontario; medical laboratory programs in northern and southwestern Ontario; and paramedic programs in northern Ontario.
Some cities include Ottawa, Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay, Thunder Bay,
London, Sault Ste. Marie, Kingston and
Windsor.
The grant’s funding coverage for tuition and books is upfront; in terms of living costs during schooling, students can still apply for OSAP. Eligible programs include diploma, undergraduate and even master’s-level education, and the minimum time commitment working in the region is six months for every year of study funded by the grant – so, two years for a four-year program.
It’s a win-win for students and areas that need health-care workers – no tuition debt after graduation, and better care for communities.
More tuition support and grants
Similar in spirit to the Learn and Stay grant, the Tuition Support Program for Nurses (TSPN) reimburses tuition costs for recent nursing graduates from rural or remote communities who stay to work for a specified amount of time.
Eligible applicants must live, or have attended high school, within 100 kilometres from a community that qualifies, then work there after schooling for a minimum number of hours over a 12-month period (full-time workers), or 24 months (part-time).
TSPN is open to nurse practitioners, registered nurses and registered practical nurses who graduated within the past year.
There are also grants available for bridging programs – education and training that upgrades skills so a PSW can become a practical nurse, or a practical nurse can train for a registered nurse designation.
Instead of focusing on geographic location, the Bridging Educational Grant in Nursing (BEGIN) program targets specific workplaces after graduation. The BEGIN grant reimburses bridging students for their tuition if they accept jobs in long-term care or home and community care sectors, and commit to a specified amount of time.
Faster learning opportunities
Some students want to learn quickly, especially ones transitioning from another school or career, or newcomers to Canada. And with so many healthcare positions in demand, accelerated learning means tapping into that earning potential sooner.
At the undergraduate level, fast-track degrees in nursing can be as little as 20 months long, as offered by McMaster University in their accelerated nursing program. Students should have completed four full terms of university study (two years), acquiring credits in specific areas, to be eligible for the program, among other requirements.
Queen’s University and the University of Toronto offer two-year accelerated nursing programs, while Trent University runs a “compressed” program over 28 months – all have prior post-secondary educational requirements. Lakehead University’s three-year compressed nursing program, however, is open to high school grads.
The College of Nurses of Ontario website (cno.org) has a list of approved programs, including accelerated or compressed options.
Two-year programs in health-care careers can include practical nursing and paramedics, and one-year programs in the field are typically PSWs and medical lab technicians.
However, some colleges offer opportunities to condense learning even further. Algonquin College, for instance, offers an “intensive” practical nursing program over 56 weeks, instead of two years. CTS Canadian Career College offers a PSW program over 29 weeks, and a paramedics program finished in just 52 weeks.