News release

Second Year for Bursary Program for Continuing Care Assistant Students

Health and Wellness

Government wants to encourage more people to become certified to work in the continuing care field in Nova Scotia. To support this, more opportunities have been added to a second year of the bursary program for continuing care assistants.

Qualified applicants will be enrolled in continuing care assistant (CCA) programs through the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) or private career colleges. The bursary will provide successful applicants $4,000 for full-time students or $2,000 for part-time students. The purpose of the program is to increase enrolment in the program by removing financial barriers for students.

“Continuing care assistants provide tremendous contributions not only to the residents to whom they provide care, but also to the sustainability of our health-care system,” said acting Health and Wellness Minister Kelly Regan. “By continuing to support students who are interested in a career in this field, we can ease the financial responsibility often associated with post secondary programs and support growth in the workforce.”

A minimum of 115 bursaries will be available through this investment. NSCC will award at least 75 bursaries, depending on the number of part-time recipients, at campuses across the province. Another 40 will be awarded through private career colleges. This is the first year the bursary program is open to students enrolled in private career colleges.

Eligible students must be enrolled as a student in the CCA Education Program starting in the 2020-21 school year and must meet the application deadline of Oct. 31 for NSCC students and Dec. 31 for private career college students.

Quotes:

“We’ve seen these last few months just how vital our continuing care sector is to our communities. I’m so pleased the province has come forward for a second year with this positive investment in CCA students. We hope it will help encourage those wishing to study, and then work in this caring profession, to take that step.”

– Don Bureaux, NSCC president

Quick Facts:

  • the bursaries are one of several Health and Wellness initiatives aimed at enhancing the continuing care workforce by focusing on the education and training of continuing care assistants
  • bursaries will be prioritized based on communities with greatest continuing care staffing needs
  • the bursary program was recommended by the Expert Advisory Panel on Long-Term Care to support workforce staffing and recruitment
  • continuing care assistants usually undergo one year of training
  • funding for this initiative comes from the Canada-Nova Scotia Home and Community Care and Mental Health and Addictions Services Funding Agreement and represents a total investment of $460,000
  • the bursary program was first launched July of last year

Additional Resources:

NSCC bursary: https://www.nscc.ca/sites/ccabursary/

Health Care Human Resource Sector Council: https://hcsc.ca/careers/continuing-care-assistant

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