The Avon Maitland District School Board’s Centre for Employment and Learning is celebrating the first graduates from its Personal Support Worker certification program.

Site Coordinator Erin Jones said there was no cost to the students.

“They’ve been at it for approximately ten months, two or three days a week between some online classes and hands-on practical experience in the long term homes. Many of them are employed with local community agencies or long term care homes now and we hope that this will bring some relief to the workforce in that area,” she said.

Jones said many of the students will be working in health care for the first time.

“Some of them were brand new to the health care and the PSW field and I think the timing of this graduating class was very good. We graduated twenty-five students, about eight in Goderich and the rest were out of our Stratford location, but they’re working in homes across Huron and Perth,” she added.

The next program will begin mid to late summer of 2023 and interested individuals can get more information by visiting the Centre for Employment and Learning website.