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October 10, 2018Capital Region BOCES’ Allows Adults to Boost their Medical Careers
Adults looking to build their careers and achieve lifetime goals need to look no further than the Capital Region BOCES adult Personal Care Aide/Home Health Aide/Certified Nurse Assistant (PCA/HHA/CNA) program.
The 144-hour full and part-time programs are offered throughout the year to adults at nearly all stages of their lives, many of whom enroll in the program do so as a means to advance their careers.
Reyna Lopez of Watervliet is one such example. The adult is currently taking the daytime PCA/HHA/CNA program at the Albany Career and Technical School campus.
“I am patient care specialist now and I chose Capital Region BOCES to earn my certified nurse assistant (CNA) certification,” said Lopez. CNA is not the end-all goal for Lopez though. Once she reaches that status, she plans to go to the next step on the career ladder.
“I plan to go for a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) certification at BOCES next,” Lopez said.
Classmates Tonya Harrison and Catiria Landelario, both of Troy, likewise view BOCES as a tool to advance their careers.
“I am a home health aide right now and I chose Capital Region BOCES to climb the next step of the nursing career ladder,” Landelario said.
For Harrison, BOCES is not only about career advancement, but fulfilling a calling.“I am learning to be a CNA at Capital Region BOCES because I love to help people. I am a nurturer at heart,” said Harrison, who currently works as a patient care assistant.
BOCES offers them periodically throughout the year, both on a full-time and a part-time basis.
The full-time, daytime program runs 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and provides certification as a personal care aide (PCA), home health aide (HHA) and nurse assistant. For those wishing to just be certified as a PCA, the class is 56 hours; for those seeking PCA and HHA certification only, the class is 110 hours.
The part-time program runs 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and provides the same certifications.
The next class is slated to run in January.
Tuition for the full program is $1,700 with a $100 commitment fee (applied towards tuition); tuition for the PCA certification class is $700; PCA and HHA costs $1,300. There are additional costs, such as supplies and books. Tuition assistance if available for those who qualify.
Students earn their clinical experience in various local healthcare facilities including Albany County Nursing Home, Baptist Health Nursing Rehabilitation Center, Ellis Hospital, Guilderland Nursing Home, Ingersoll Place Assisted Living, Kingsway Nursing Home, Our Lady of Mercy Life Care, The Dutch Manor Nursing & Rehab and the Teresian House.
For more information or to register, call 518-518-862-4709 or email Andrea.Gallacchi@neric.org.
Additional information is also available at https://www.capitalregionboces.org/adult-education/classes-programs/pca-hha-cna/.
