A TWEED SHIRE employment boom is taking place in the aged care sector with a range of new opportunities for students completing the Individual Support course at the Murwillumbah Community College (MCC).
Students are guided through a comprehensive training program under the Certificate III,course which equips them with the necessary skills to work in the growing aged care sector and secure an all important job.
The students are given a range of theoretical and practical training including manual handling training at aged care facilities across the Tweed Valley and Tweed Coast.
Murwillumbah Community College runs this course regularly which students take up to a year to complete, including three weeks work placement in aged care and disability facilities.
Following this course, students who have managed to successfully complete it will be able to look for private caregiver jobs in the region as well as apply for jobs in other regions that may require some more specific training to be completed.
In any case, completing this course opens up a whole new avenue of caregiving jobs for the participants, which can prove advantageous to everyone involved. The best part is that the course provides an updated stance on the caregiving industry.
This means that it can teach the students all about the current trends–one element could be the technological solutions that caregiving agencies often rely on, like Alora Health software solutions. Besides this, it can also enlighten them on the subject of real-time monitoring, productivity measurement, and progress tracking of caregivers.
That said, Murwillumbah local Trish Webster has enrolled in the course this year and told The Weekly she’s loving it.
“It’s been a wonderful course, I’ve learned so much about aged care,” she said.
Trish said the college staff were extremely helpful and she’s hoping to work in the sector after the course is complete.
“The people in the course are so helpful with everyone and I hope to get work out of it when it’s finished,” she said.
Once completed, the students will be competent in aged care, home and community care and disability support workers.
Local facilities Greenhills Lodge, Opal Murwillumbah and Wommin Bay Village host the students for work placement.
Course trainer Megan Buckley said the students undertake extensive training before work placement, including dementia care, infection control, first aid, workplace health and safety, communications, and disability support units with a specialist from the disability sector. It is probably similar to any of the health and safety training programs provided by a professional Safety Management Group. This training is absolutely key to any sort of caregiving work. Elder care requires a lot of patience and having the knowledge on how to deal with the obstacles one may face while on the job proves to be extremely helpful.
Now that companies and healthcare facilities are using the means of online training, new employees can easily learn the basic functions of aged care as well as grasp the skills required to provide intensive care. Additionally, the growing trend in BYOD policies for elearning and workplaces mean the caregivers can better stay in contact with their supervisors while providing in-home services to patients.
“It is especially satisfying to train Murwillumbah students in this field as a high majority go on to paid work soon after completing the course,” Ms Buckley said.
“With the current focus on the aged care and disability sectors, we feel proud that well trained and enthusiastic students from MCC are taking up local jobs and using their skills to make improvements for our ageing population and those receiving NDIS support.”
Anyone wanting to find out more can contact the Murwillumbah Community College on (02) 6672 6005 or visit the college 9/47-49 Murwillumbah Street.