Santiago Canyon College continues to expand its health care pathways – Orange County Register

With healthcare employment expected to grow faster on average than positions in other industries, Santiago Canyon College continues to add certificate programs to help meet that demand.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, this trend will continue until 2032.

Just over five years after launching the certified nursing assistant program, SCC now offers an acute care assistant program designed to train nursing assistants to work in an acute care setting.

In the CNA certificate program, students earn a nursing assistant certificate and have the knowledge to work in a health care setting, said Chrissy Gascon, dean of Instruction and Student Services, Continuing Education at Santiago Canyon College.

The curriculum is based on professional standards set by regulatory bodies, she added.

“A student can complete the entire program in one semester and then immediately start working in a healthcare setting, under the supervision of a nurse, and earn a decent wage,” Gascon said.

Students enrolling in the acute care nursing assistant program must already possess a CNA certification.

Students in the acute care program currently complete their clinical training at Providence St. Joseph in Orange, where they rotate through 10 different units under the supervision of a nurse.

These include lung kidneys, clinical decision, mother and baby, orthopedics, general surgery, medical telemetry, oncology, childbirth and emergency care.

By being exposed to each specialty, students may be drawn to a particular specialty and pursue a position in that specialty, she said.

“St. Joseph has been very welcoming and supportive to our students, allowing them access to training on the different floors,” said Cristina Morones, assistant professor of career education. “The purpose of this is to upskill our students so that they can then transition from working in skilled nursing facilities to hospitals and then, hopefully, a raise because we always want our students to move up and earn a good living wage to improve their living conditions and help support their educational and personal goals.”

Training in a hospital setting also gives the students a space where they can network and make connections in a hospital, Morones said.

“So the goal is really to give students access, get them scaled up and, hopefully, get jobs at hospitals and also raises,” she said.

SCC began offering healthcare career path programs about 15 years ago, Gascon said.

SCC will continue to focus on health care pathways, Gascon said, especially since the college is located in a city that has four major hospitals and a province that is on the rise in health care.

“There are a lot of good jobs for our students,” says Gascon. “When we ask our community what they need, this is what they want.”

SCC recently received a California Apprenticeship Initiative grant to create apprenticeships for its healthcare program. The initiative is intended to provide community college apprenticeship program students with a direct path to credits and degrees.

SCC is currently developing a licensed vocational nursing program, Gascon said.

The council is simply responding to the needs of local hospitals, she said.

Other medical professional certifications offered at SCC include behavioral technician, caregiver/personal aide, lactation specialist and medical billing.

Gascon said a possible healthcare pathway could look like this:

Caregiver to CNA, to acute care CNA, to LVN and eventually earn an RN.