Collège Boréal’s practical nursing program will be available in Hearst and Kapuskasing earlier than expected.
The two-year program is currently available in Sudbury, Timmins and Toronto.
Feb.16, the college announced the expansion of the program to all of its seven campuses including Hearst, Kapuskasing, Nipissing and Windsor.
Originally, the program was supposed to be available starting September 2022.
The decision to advance the program in Hearst, Nipissing and Kapuskasing to September 2021 was made taking into account the ongoing pandemic and the dire need for healthcare professionals in northern communities, said Collège Boréal’s director of Nipissing campus Rachel Quesnel.
“We’re answering the call from our communities. Our communities spoke loudly, so we’re just making sure we can help with the dire need for healthcare professionals right now,” she said. “We already had a need for professionals before COVID, so we can understand that with COVID it has precipitated that need.”
The program in Windsor will go ahead as initially planned in 2022 in order to undertake renovations and get the labs prepared, Quesnel said.
