Health Care Aide

Some of the most important work in health care happens at the bedside, helping a resident eat, move and feel respected. Lakeland College’s Health Care Aide certificate is a single, full-time programme lasting one year, delivered face to face at the Lloydminster campus and built on the Alberta Provincial Curriculum for health care aides.

Because Lakeland follows the Alberta government health care aide curriculum, you cover the full scope of the provincial role, from personal care to working safely within a care team. In the Health Care Aide labs you practise taking vital signs, counting pulse and respiration rates, giving mouth care and moving clients safely with sit-stand lifts. You must hold valid WHMIS, Standard First Aid and CPR-C before the programme ends, and graduation needs a GPA of at least 2.7 in every course.

Learning starts in Lakeland’s nursing labs, fitted with modern equipment so the Health Care Aide skills you rehearse match the settings you will work in. You then complete three full-time clinical practicums, 320 hours in total, across continuing care, acute care and community or home care, and these may include shift work any day of the week. Each Health Care Aide practicum builds industry contacts, and completing this training is a legal requirement for employment in Alberta long-term care and assisted living.

Health Care Aide graduates work as health care aides in long-term care facilities, assisted living residences, home care teams, hospices, hospitals and centres for persons with developmental disabilities. The certificate suits patient, physically capable people who are comfortable with personal care, shift schedules and working closely under nurses in Lloydminster and across Alberta.