Yanmei (Mei) Chen never thought she was cut out for a job in health care. The former educator from China, who immigrated to Canada in 2020, was skeptical about changing careers later in life. But the financial pressures of the pandemic on her family eventually compelled her to make a change.
Mei heard about the Health Career Access Program (HCAP), a government-funded initiative launched in 2020 that provides a path for applicants with little to no experience in the health sector to get hired and receive paid training as part of their employment. The Kelowna resident said she sent a letter to Interior Health to “test the waters.”
“I was amazed I got an email back,” she says. “I couldn’t believe there was a program that let you retrain while paying you a salary.”
Interior Health (IH), like all B.C.’s health authorities, has been involved in the program since the beginning, and in March reached a milestone with our largest ever cohort of HCAP graduates — a whopping 73.
The graduates are spread across IH’s four regions: East Kootenay (19), Kootenay Boundary (17), Thompson Cariboo Shuswap (11) and the Okanagan (26). They're now ready to begin their new careers as health-care assistants at various IH or contracted or private sites or facilities.
How HCAP works
HCAP is now formally part of the BC Government’s Health Human Resources Strategy.
Interested individuals can apply via their regional health authority. Each authority works with the government, post-secondary institutions, and contracted and private partners to identify and approve vacancies or ‘seats’ at facilities within the health authority’s region.
Prior to starting their training, which can last anywhere from six to nine months depending on the institution, successful applicants get a taste for their new profession by working as health-care support workers for a few weeks. Upon successful completion of the program, graduates are hired as health-care assistants, often back at their home site.
“After you graduate, there's a 'return of service' requirement to work at IH,” explains Sandra Hohmann, manager, centralized recruitment (nursing), whose team recruits for the program and works closely with the participants throughout the whole process. “Once you graduate, our team helps align you with a care aide position at IH, ideally at the same site you were originally hired at as an HCAP employee. We make an effort to connect with all of the graduates individually as we want to make sure they are set up for success to fulfill their return of service contract.”
HCAP is a health-care success story
The 2024 graduate numbers are indicative of the program’s rising popularity. Participation has been growing steadily over the years, and the consensus is that it’s down to good old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing.
Taylor Munro, manager, clinical education in the Professional Practice Office, whose team oversees the program for IH, says “the secret’s out about HCAP.”
“People know the opportunity is there so they’re taking it,” he says. “And the [IH] recruitment team has done a lot in terms of recruiting, networking, roadshows and getting the word out there, so it’s a snowball effect.
“The best thing about [the program] is that it removes the barriers for participants who are interested. Because you get some people who are really interested in the schooling but can’t afford the tuition, and others who can afford the tuition but can’t miss work. And, of course, you get a mix of both,” he adds.
Graduate says HCAP is a "stepping stone to a new experience’"
After some deliberation, Mei decided to apply to the program in June 2022 and started her studies at Okanagan College a few months later. She was also inspired by her mother- and sisters-in-law who work in nursing.
After graduating, she was initially placed at Brookhaven Care Centre, a long-term care (LTC) facility in West Kelowna. Later, she moved to David Lloyd Jones Home in downtown Kelowna to be closer to home. She describes her experience with HCAP as “phenomenal.”
“My experience has been just wonderful," says Mei. "I’m so grateful for it. I have no regrets. I would say to those thinking about it to take advantage of it, commit and use it as a stepping stone to a new experience in your life.”
She says she’s now considering bridging into a nursing program but hasn’t yet made up her mind.
Start your HCAP journey
Learn more about this paid working and training opportunity and start a career in health care.Visit our Health Career Access Program webpage
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