Ontario Supports Training of Hundreds of Personal Support Workers

Projects will fill in-demand jobs and provide critical support to long-term care homes

The Voice of Canada – TORONTO — The Ontario government is investing more than $4.1 million to help train 373 new Personal Support Workers (PSWs) and provide them with additional health and safety resources. This funding will ensure Ontario has more PSWs to provide the best care for seniors and residents in long-term care homes while connecting people with meaningful work.

“Our government is taking comprehensive action to help people develop new and incredibly important skills that will benefit some of the most vulnerable people in our province,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. “Working closely with our colleges and other important health care training partners, we can help many people prepare for new and rewarding careers while solving a decades-long problem, which is a shortage of PSWs in Ontario.”

In total, the funding is supporting eight projects, including:

• $295,500 for Canadore College to connect 20 unemployed jobseekers from the local Ontario Works caseload with PSW training
• $941,000 for the Canadian Career Academy of Business & Technology Inc to support the Pathway2PSW project in Lanark and Renfrew Counties in training 60 participants. This project features a health care assessment, formal health care training and virtual reality learning.
• $265,810 to Mohawk College of Applied Arts & Technology to provide employers with up to 20 job-ready, skilled workers and provide participants with employment and training services in the health care sector.

“Personal Support Workers are the backbone of long-term care and do important work to ensure that our loved ones receive the quality of care they need and deserve,” said Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Modernizing long-term care means making it a better place for residents to live, and a better place for staff to work, which we will achieve through coordinated partnerships and programs across government.”

The government’s investment will support a number of PSW training projects in regions hard hit by the pandemic. The funding will also be used to develop educational resources to minimize PSWs’ exposure to infections. Some projects have already begun while others will start later in the spring and run for several weeks or months.

For more information on the PSW training, please contact your local Employment Ontario office.

QUICK FACTS

• Long-term care homes are places where adults can live and receive help with most or all daily activities and access to 24-hour nursing and personal care. These homes provide more nursing and personal care than retirement homes or supportive housing.
• In its 2020 Budget, Ontario’s Action Plan: Protect, Support, Recover, the government committed an additional $180.5 million over three years to help existing workers improve their skills.
• A Better Place to Live; A Better Place to Work: Ontario’s Long-Term Care Staffing Plan is the province’s plan to increase the hours of direct care for residents to an average of four hours per day, making the province a leader in Canada. The plan sets out actions to hire more staff, improve working conditions for existing staff, drive effective and accountable leadership, and implement retention strategies.