SCI-AHEC offering new training awards to help CNA students

INA, Ill. (March 14, 2014) - Students enrolled in Rend Lake College’s Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) Program will soon have an extra advantage when it comes to paying for classes, thanks to the South Central Illinois Area Health Education Center (SCI-AHEC).

The center is donating approximately $5,000 toward new training awards, which will be used to help cover costs not covered by the CNA tuition waiver, such as registration fees. The awards will be available on a first-come first-serve basis.

SCI-AHEC Director Kelli Stover said the training awards will help reach the AHEC goals of training and retaining rural health care professionals.

“CNAs are very important in our rural communities in providing health care, as well as a building block in our health care foundation for nurses, as well as other health care disciplines,” said Stover. “SCI-AHEC recognizes the importance of our CNAs and would like to support Rend Lake College in their provision of quality education.”

Kim Robert, Dean of the Allied Health Division, added the awards will be very important for students who need the extra boost to prepare them for future studies at RLC.

“Rend Lake waives CNA tuition for students living in the RLC district, so those students pay less than $100 for our program, plus supplies. These training awards will remove that burden from the student and hopefully encourage them to move on to our nursing program afterward,” said Robert.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently more than 1.5 million jobs for CNAs across the country. There is an expected increase of 21 percent in job availability, or 321,000 jobs. If students do continue on through the RLC Nursing Program, an additional 738,400 jobs are available with a median pay nearly $15,000 higher.

RLC offers the CNA program at the Ina campus, the RLC MarketPlace in Mt. Vernon, and in Pinckneyville. The next round of classes begins in April with classes starting every eight weeks.

To sign up for CNA classes or for more information, call the RLC Allied Health Division at 618-437-5321, Ext. 1251, or send an e-mail to ah_info@rlc.edu. For more information on the SCI-AHEC training awards, call 618-437-5321, Ext. 1280.