Susan Kyle has new skills and a new perspective after completing a healthcare program at Okanagan College’s Salmon Arm campus.
Kyle will be leaving Okanagan College with a Health Care Assistant Certificate. She entered the program out of a desire to better understand her mother’s struggle with dementia. Kyle’s mother passed away while she was enrolled in the program, but Kyle said the things she learned helped support her in her last days.
Kyle joined the program as a mature student and says she felt welcomed and enjoyed the collaboration between students.
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Since completing her courses. Kyle has wasted no time putting her new-found skills and perspective to work by opening her own home-care business. Kyle said being self-employed has given her life flexibility, good pay and a sense of fulfillment through helping those in need.
“You’d be amazed by how many clients you can get,” Kyle said. “There’s a need for home health care aids, and providing that service is a huge thing for me.”
Kyle is one of 2,000 students who will be receiving their credentials in the college’s first-ever online convocation ceremony, held on Saturday, Jan. 23.
The six-month long healthcare assistant program will be offered again at the Salmon Arm campus beginning this April.
Joan Ragsdale, Okanagan College’s regional dean for Shuswap-Revelstoke said the college’s healthcare assistant grads are in high demand and the program has a great reputation in the industry.
Anyone interested in tuning into for the college’s virtual convocation can watch the pre-recorded ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23 at www.okanagan.bc.ca/virtualconvocation.
jim.elliot@saobserver.net
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