MPCC News Release
A new offering at Mid-Plains Community College will help non-native English speakers improve their communication skills and train for jobs as nursing assistants.
“This is something we’ve been working toward for about nine months,” said Robin Rankin, area director of Adult Education. “We’ve already had two area businesses come forward in support.”
Both the Linden Court nursing home in North Platte and Imperial Manor nursing home in Imperial have agreed to cover the cost of the course for some of their employees.
Individuals don’t have to be employed with one of the nursing homes or have previous experience in health care to take advantage of the program, however. It’s open to almost anyone with limited English-speaking skills who is interested in becoming a nursing assistant.
“Students do have to have some proficiency in English to be accepted into the program,” said Renee Miller, area Adult Education instructor. “There’s a pre-assessment they complete to determine their level of English. They have to be at level five or higher.”
That’s because there is no translation during the nursing assistant portion of the program. All materials are also in English.
“Basically, what we’re doing is providing support with the English language and helping them if they don’t understand a particular term,” Miller said. “We have a distance learning curriculum that is designed to support nursing assistants, and it will be used to supplement learning. Students can access it at home or in the classroom.”
Students will spend a minimum of 76 hours in nursing assistant training and up to 16 hours per week in an English as a Second Language class.
Exams will be a combination of written and hands-on skills. Students will be responsible for taking the nursing assistant certification test on their own.
Financial assistance may be available for qualified applicants to help cover the cost of the nursing assistant instruction. The ESL portion of the program is free.
Those interested in applying for the program can contact the Adult Education office at (308) 535-3637.