Assiniboine Community College is offering a second intake of the Practical Nursing program at the rural rotating training site in Morden, Manitoba. The program will start in January 2025 with capacity for 25 students.
“Offering training closer to home means people living in rural communities have more choice when pursuing post-secondary education, and this Practical Nursing program in Morden will enable more nurses to be trained to fill the on-going demand,” said Manitoba Advanced Education and Training Minister, Sarah Guillemard. “As we work to fulfill our commitment to add 400 new nursing seats to meet Manitoba’s health sector needs, this program also complements our health human resource action plan to retain, train and recruit more nurses and the implementation of our government’s Skills, Training and Knowledge Strategy.”
Applications for Morden’s Practical Nursing site are now open. Applications will be assessed and admitted on an ongoing basis, with those living within 100 km of Morden and/or within the Southern Health Santé-Sud Region being given priority.
“This area of the province is growing, and we’re proud to not only offer access to opportunities for students, but also to help answer the call for increasing healthcare needs,” said Mark Frison, President at Assiniboine. “The college continues to be responsive to the labour market and community needs, and rural rotating nursing sites are an important way of achieving that. Thanks to the community, the province and the health region for the continued support in ensuring we can offer training to future nurses close to home.”
A significant provincial investment in 2021 expanded Assiniboine’s Portage la Prairie nursing site to welcome 35 new students each year and allowed for three additional rural rotating sites every two years.
In recent weeks, the college has announced rural rotating sites to begin in September 2024 in Virden and Otterburne, along with a one-time rural site in Neepawa set to begin January 2024. The final rural rotating site for the 2024-25 academic year will be announced in the coming weeks.
“I am pleased to see the expansion of the rural rotating practical nursing program. This program has been a huge success in our region,” said Jane Curtis, Chief Executive Officer at Southern Health-Santé Sud. “It is a program that not only works towards increasing the number of qualified nurses in the workforce, but it provides an accessible post-secondary option, closer to home.”
In addition to rural rotating sites, the college has permanent Practical Nursing programs at its campuses in Brandon, Winnipeg, Dauphin and Portage la Prairie.
The demand for Assiniboine nursing graduates continues to be high; 100 per cent of practical nursing graduates surveyed from the 2021-22 academic year said they had jobs, making on average more than $57,000 a year.
Important updates, information, and checklists for prospective applicants are available at assiniboine.net/nursing.
