The Tennessee Department of Workforce Development has awarded grant funding to Signature Healthcare to train certified nursing assistants for the Upper Cumberland.
Signature Healthcare Administrator Paula Boone said the grant funding will be used to offer a training program that will train six students to become certified nursing assistants at no cost to the students. Boone said the program will offer classroom training and clinical opportunities within their facility.
“This is one of the largest growing career opportunities that is out there,” Boone said. “And to be able to have the opportunity to educate additional nursing assistants will be a wonderful opportunity for the healthcare industry and the long-term care community in the Upper Cumberland.”
Boone said one of the many struggles that rural healthcare providers face in the Upper Cumberland is finding certified nurses. Boone said our region needs to start focusing on addressing the healthcare needs we have in rural areas.
The grant, which totals some $10.7 million statewide, is awarded to rural healthcare providers who will use the funding to provide healthcare training opportunities.
“I believe as our communities age and people require more and more care as they get older I think that we are going to see the shortage of nursing assistants and nursing assistants be more impactful as our society does age,” Boone said.
Boone said the training program will hopefully help with the lack of nursing programs here in the Upper Cumberland. Boone said she believes the reason for a lack of nursing programs in the Upper Cumberland is due to not having enough nursing instructors.
“Instructors must be nurses and they have to have been in the healthcare field for a certain amount of time to be able to be instructors,” Boone said. “Which is definitely necessary. We want people that are trained in order to be effectively training these nursing assistants, so I think sometimes it’s difficult it is difficult with being able to obtain instructors even with our nursing shortage that is going on in the Upper Cumberland.”
Boone said Signature Healthcare wanted a small class to have an effective program by doing more one-on-one training with the students. Boone said as of now Signature Healthcare will only offer the program once as it is grant funded. Signature Healthcare was one of five healthcare providers in the Upper Cumberland to receive a portion of the grant funding.
