Sudbury colleges see growing number of PSW students enrolling

Morning North3:56Life as a Personal Support Worker

We heard from a Sudbury area personal support worker about the quality of the service being offered. Delisca Demers has been working as a PSW for 22 years now. She spoke about her work to the CBC's Olivia Stefanovich.A couple of Sudbury colleges say they're seeing more interest in their personal support worker programs.

Collège Boréal’s Dean of  Health Sciences said there are more high school graduates enrolling in the PSW program.

Kim Morris said there are seven so far this year, and the deadline is still a month away.Last year, there were three high school graduates in a class of 12.

Morris said she believes younger students are registering because the provincial government raised the wages for these workers after a strike last year.

“So those PSW's are feeling more validated or recognized as health care professionals,” she said.

Fern Gauthier, who co-ordinates the PSW program at Cambrian College in Sudbury, said enrolment in their two-semester program is at 38 this year — up from 27 two years ago.

Gauthier said Cambrian is hoping to increase enrolment further with the launch of an online PSW program next fall.

“It's a new way of looking at it, but it's very much a great opportunity for a lot of people,” he said.

“It'll help a lot of people who are interested in getting [into] health care and it's also going to help our community with the shortage of the PSWs.”

Students will take all of the classroom work online, and then attend Cambrian College for two months for practical training.

“This way, if the student is still able, whether they have work commitments, or commitments at home with child care, whatever it may be, they can still complete these theory-based courses, online.”