College Boreal pilot project designed to respond rapidly to PSW shortage

A college in Sudbury says it has come up with a way to ease the shortage of personal support workers in the region.

College Boreal is offering a pilot project geared to graduates of other health-based programs, such as paramedics or registered practical nurses.

Graduates can write an exam and if they pass, they could qualify as a PSW and work at St. Gabriel's or St. Joseph's Villa in Sudbury.

The college is also planning to expand the pilot to Kapuskasing and Hearst.

PSW shortage a 'crisis'

While other health care positions may have long wait times for full-time employment, demand for PSWs it at an all time high, according to Kim Morris, the Dean of the School of Health Sciences.

"Unfortunately it is a crisis, it was a shortage a few years ago, now it's a crisis, and not just in northern ontario," she said.

Morris said that legislation for long-term care facilities in Ontario requires PSWs to have a college certificate.

Through the pilot project, participating facilities can hire eligible health care workers and then refer them to the college for the exam.

If the candidates don't pass the exam, they must take a 32 hour boot camp that covers theory and hands-on practice.

A long-term solution?

But Miranda Ferrier, the president of the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association says professionals from other health care disciplines may be missing "vital components" of the job.

Ferrier cites paramedics as an example.

"They know how to transfer someone onto a stretcher, but they don't know actually how to transfer someone from their wheelchair to their bed, or their bed to the wheelchair or into a shower or into a tub," she said.

"You know 95 percent of the job that a PSW does is hands-on and it's non-medical for the most part."

Ferrier said that although the association supports initiatives to increase the number of PSWs, the pilot project isn't a long-term solution.

"I think at the end of the day we're going to have to look at the root cause as to why there aren't enough personal support workers, why they are leaving the field as past as they are, and we have to fix those problems in the long run."

Ferrier said the association plans to reach out to college to find out more about the pilot and what the exam covers.