New Steinbach program hopes to train, keep nurses close to home

A new nursing program has set up shop in a Steinbach long-term care home in hopes of training and retaining nurses in the city.

Assiniboine College opened its newest rural rotating practical nursing site, located in Rest Haven Care Home on 185 Woodhaven Ave., on Sept. 26.

Tolupoe Folarin jumped at the chance to join the program because it was “just three minutes away” from her home.

“I prayed so much for it because I knew being a nurse is also an opportunity for me to continue to do what I’ve always been doing, which is caring for my patients,” she said. “So when I going through the admission, I gave it all, because this is my home.”

She arrived in Steinbach three years ago from Nigeria, after previously working as a dietitian, with a 18-month-old baby. Prior to the new program, Folarin’s closest options for a nursing education were in Winnipeg or Brandon, making it too difficult to care for her family and also be a student.

She’s one of 35 new students learning in the personal care home, with classes already underway since Sept. 2. The centre designated multiple rooms as classrooms and labs for the students, which helped Folarin apply principles, such as therapeutic communication, to what she sees around her.

“We learn it in class, and we see people walking here doing it,” she said.

The Steinbach site is the third and largest location the college has opened to date in Southern Manitoba, with the two-year program already operating in Morden and Otterburne.

Assiniboine College president Mark Frison said Steinbach topped the list of potential places to expand the program. When looking for new locations, there needs to be enough student demand and jobs in the area for graduates, he said.

The entry criteria is designed to be competitive and give a preference to students who live near the community to increase the likelihood they’ll stay in the community after finishing the program, Frison said.

“Being able to do rural sites where people can take it close to where they live and stay and work in facilities that need folks are one of the things that brings us great joy,” he said.

Nearly $1 million of provincial funding will keep Steinbach’s new program running.

The new program will benefit Steinbach “immensely,” said Dana Human, interim CEO for Southern Health-Santé Sud. Making nursing education accessible to people in rural communities is crucial to keeping nurses in those areas, she said.

“If we grow our own within the regional communities, they usually stay,” Human said.

She said locally-trained nurses already know about what community services are available, which makes them a valuable resource for patients and facilities. The addition of the new program comes at crucial time where more nurses are needed and as an aging population grows.

“There’s always a need for extra seats no matter what is going on in advancing of health care, we always need to look at just adding five more seats, 10 more seats to every profession within health care,” Human said.