College Certificate - Health Care Aide

The Health Care Aide program will provide student's with the opportunity to gain knowledge and hands-on skills to provide person-centered care within a health care team.

This program focuses on developing the core skills needed to care for individuals with various health care needs. Topics include personal care, assisting with mobility and nutrition, communication, assisting with medication delivery, and clinical skills. 

Student's will learn in a combination of on-campus labs, in-class learning, and clinical instruction in continuing care, acute care, and community/home care settings. Clinical shifts may include days, evenings, nights, and/or weekends. 

Clinical experience

Student's will be required to travel to various locations in order to complete their clinical and practicum placements. Every effort is made to accommodate learners in clinical placements within the time frame of the program, however in rare instances there may be a delay in program completion until a clinical placement can be arranged.

The Health Care Aide Certificate is available in the following delivery options:  

Full-time: on-campus study over an eight-month (2-term) period.

Part-time: on-campus over a five-term period. 

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR): Student's may be eligible to challenge the courses in the Health Care Aide (HCA) program if they have work experience as a health care aide or caregiver and wish to meet provincial health care aide certification requirements. The PLAR HCA pathway is only offered through the Calgary downtown campus and not through the Regional campuses.

Heath Care Aide for English Language Learners: this pathway program is for learners with minimal English Language proficiency skills. To learn more to see if this is better suited for the individual, please visit the program page.