Troy Shantz If you’re looking for a career change healthcare might be a field worth exploring, a new report suggests.
Troy Shantz
If you’re looking for a career change healthcare might be a field worth exploring, a new report suggests.
The demand for health-care professionals in Sarnia-Lambton remains strong with the highest number of jobs available for nurses and personal support workers, according to the Sarnia Lambton Workforce Development Board (SLWDB) study.
In 2016, job postings went up for 158 registered nurses (RNs), 133 registered practical nurses (RPNs) and 105 personal support workers (PSWs) in Sarnia-Lambton.
Other health-care jobs were available as nursing and dietary aids, general office workers, cooks, administrative assistants and lab technologist.
The board’s Catherine Gordon said an aging population is one factor.
“Our population is older, slightly older than the Ontario average,” she said. “It’s expected that demand will increase for services required.”
Census data shows 31.2% of Sarnia-Lambton’s population is age 45 to 64 and another 18.7% is over 65.
A greying population and impending retirements are creating opportunities in community agencies, long-term care facilities and rest and retirement homes, said MaryJane Comiskey, dean of health sciences at Lambton College.
The college offers RN and RPN programs as well as a personal support worker program.
“Those three are some of our most sought after programs at the college. They tend to be fairly competitive,” she said.
The SLBDC report notes that taking additional health-care courses for mental health treatment, therapy and other specialties can increase employment opportunities.
In 2011, there were 3,500 health-care jobs in Sarnia-Lambton.
But the industry has a high turnover rate with employers attempting to fill many positions that people had quit, the report notes.
Many jobs are for part-time hours and some involve early morning, evening, night and weekend work on a regular basis.
Gordon said anyone looking to enter the field should fully understand what’s involved.
“When we spoke with some of these employer representatives, a lot of them spoke about the difficulty to retain or recruit for part-time positions,” she said.
“For some organizations, that’s all they can offer.”
In the Sarnia-Chatham-Windsor corridor personal support workers can expect to earn $13 to $21 an hour. RPNs can expect to earn $20 to $29 an hour and RNs, who make the largest commitment in terms of education, can expect to make $23 to $44 an hour.
