QCC giving free nursing training in 2021

Photo | Grant Welker Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester

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Quinsigamond Community College will offer free nurse assistant and home health aide training and administrative medical professional programs next year, thanks to grant funding.

The Worcester school announced the new initiatives Tuesday. The nurse assistant and home health aide training program is funded through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services' Nursing and Allied Health Initiative's SNAP Path to Work program. The administrative medical professional program is covered by an undisclosed grant.

The program will allow for free 120-hour nurse assistant or home health aide training programs for students who want to work in a long-term care facility, acute care facility or home health care agency. Upon completion of the program, students will be eligible to take the Massachusetts Certified Nurse Assistant Competency Exam.

The administrative medical professional program will prepare students for a career as a medical administrative assistant who could work in a range of healthcare settings. The program will include lessons in how to prepare for medical emergencies, among other responsibilities, and upon completion of the program, students will be eligible to sit for the National Healthcareer Association’s Certified Medical Administrative Assistant Certification Exam.

QCC will be holding classes remotely for the spring semester.

Each potential job for students who go through the programs are in high demand. Home health aide jobs in particular are in very high demand, with a forecasted growth of 35% in the coming decade of more than 1.1 million new jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Medical assistant jobs are expected to rise by 19% over that time and nurse assistant jobs by 8%.