Health Care Assistant

Professional Health Care Assistant Career Training in as Little as 38 Weeks

Health Care Assistants (HCA), sometimes called Health Care Aides, provide important personal assistance and support services for a wide variety of medical clients including elderly patrons, injured or disabled persons and chronically ill people who require short term assistance or ongoing support.

Your compassion, patience, and interest in helping others, paired with the hands-on training from Discovery Community College, will prepare you for a rewarding career as a Health Care Assistant in less than 10 months.

This program is offered in: Campbell River, Courtenay, Parksville, Nanaimo, Maple Ridge and Surrey

This program has been reviewed and approved by the registrar of the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training.

The best way to see if Discovery Community College is the right fit for you is to see it for yourself. You can tour our facilities, get all your questions answered, and meet with both students and instructors. 

Practical “On-the-Job” Training

As a student in the Discovery Community College Health Care Assistant Diploma program, you’ll learn in a real-world environment by training on-site at residential care facilities. The philosophy of this program is based on a humanistic, experiential approach and features gradual immersion and hands-on training. Paired with small class sizes, this learn-by-doing process ensures that our graduates are competent and confident with their knowledge base and clinical skills.

Healthcare is a “hands-on” profession, and at Discovery we strongly believe that is how it should be taught. Successful graduates of this program enter the professional world with confidence after gaining so much practical, on-the-job-experience during their training.

Health Care Assistants in High Demand in B.C. & Throughout Canada

The growing and aging population in B.C. and throughout Canada is creating an increased demand for training Healthcare professionals. There is an especially high demand for skilled Health Care Assistants. The Government of Canada reports that employment growth in this field “will be among the strongest of all occupations.” (Working in Canada Report: Nurse Aides, Orderlies and Patient Service Associates NOC 3413-C)

In fact, over the next 7 years, it’s projected that there will be more job openings in the field of Health Care Assistants than there will be trained professionals to fill those jobs. That makes now an exciting time for new professionals receiving their training and entering this booming field.