Santiago Canyon College Continues to Expand Health Care Pathways – Orange County Register

As healthcare employment is expected to grow faster on average than positions in other sectors, Santiago Canyon College continues to add certificate programs to help meet this demand.

According to the US Department of Labor Statistics, this trend will continue until 2032.

Just over five years after launching its certified nursing assistant program, SCC now offers an acute care assistant program designed to train nurse assistants for employment in an acute care setting.

In the CNA certificate program, students earn nursing assistant certification and have the knowledge needed to work in a health care environment, said Chrissy Gascon, dean of teaching and continuing education student services at Santiago Canyon College.

The curriculum is based on professional standards established by regulatory agencies, she added.

“A student can complete the entire program in one semester and then immediately start working in a health care setting under the supervision of a nurse and earn a decent salary,” Gascon said.

Students enrolling in the Urgent Care Nursing Assistant program must already be certified as a CNA.

Students in the acute care program are currently completing their clinical training at Providence St. Joseph in Orange, where they go through 10 different departments under the supervision of a nurse.

These include pulmonary renal, clinical decisions, mother and baby, orthopedics, general surgery, medical telemetry, oncology, labor and delivery, and emergency department.

By exposure to each specialty, students may be drawn to one particular specialty and apply for a position in that specialty, she said.

“St. Joseph was very welcoming and supportive of our students, providing them with access to training on various floors,” said Cristina Morones, assistant professor of professional education. “The purpose of this is to upskill our students so that they can then go from working in a skilled nursing facility to a hospital setting and then hopefully a pay increase because we always want our students to advance and earn a fair wage to be able to improve conditions life and supporting their educational and personal goals.”

Morones said training in a hospital setting provides a space for students to socialize in the hospital and make connections.

“Really the goal is to give students access, improve their skills and hopefully get them jobs in hospitals, as well as a pay raise,” she said.

Gascon said SCC began offering health care career pathway programs about 15 years ago.

Gascon said SCC will continue to focus on health care pathways, especially since the college is located in a city with four major hospitals and a county that has a lot of interest in health care.

“Our students have a lot of very good jobs,” Gascon said. “When we go out and ask our community what they need, we find that this is what they want.”

SCC recently received a grant from the California Apprenticeship Initiative to create apprenticeships within its health care program. The initiative aims to provide students in higher education apprenticeship programs with a direct path to credit certificates and degrees.

Gascon said SCC is currently developing a licensed vocational nursing program.

She added that the university simply responds to the needs of local hospitals.

Other health professions certifications offered at SCC include behavioral technician, caregiver/personal aide, specialist lactation educator, and medical billing.

Gascon said a possible health care pathway could look like this:

Caregiver to CNA, acute care CNA, LVN and ultimately earning RN.