A Bozeman company has become the first in the state to provide medical apprenticeship training for home care as part of a statewide apprenticeship program.
Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney visited First Choice Home Health on Thursday to congratulate 14 new apprentices on their entry into the Montana Registered Apprenticeship program.
First Choice Home Health is a local home care company, providing nursing, physical therapy and other health care needs to patients in their homes. It’s not the first medical company to be a part of the Montana Registered Apprenticeship program, but it is the first home care program and the first program with a focus on caring for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
“The work you have chosen to do is invaluable,” Cooney told the apprentices. Cooney said his mother-in-law was an Alzheimer’s patient for several years before she died, so the apprentice’s work is personal to him.
“As a family member, it’s very important to know they are being cared for with compassion and empathy,” he said.
Registered apprenticeship specialist Shauna Johnson said the apprenticeship uses an online dementia care curriculum developed by the state. Many of the 14 apprentices are already certified nursing assistants, she said, but are doing the apprenticeship and “taking the extra step” to care for an aging population.
The Montana Registered Apprenticeship program, which began in 1941, offers participating companies $750 of tax reimbursements per apprentice. That $750 doubles if the apprentice is a veteran. The program also gives an incentive grant of up to $4,500 for new apprenticeship programs, which First Choice qualified for.
“They were able to buy materials, they bought a few laptops for their apprentices to work off of and things like that,” Johnson said.
First Choice isn’t the only health care focused company in the Montana Registered Apprenticeship program. The Montana Health Network had 108 apprentices working towards becoming certified nurses assistants in 2019, as well as six medical assistants, four emergency medical technicians, four limited permit x-ray technicians and two licensed practical and vocational nurses, according to the Montana Registered Apprenticeship website.
In 2017, 76 employers in Gallatin County were training at least one apprentice. That number grew to 82 in 2019. The number of apprenticeship sponsors statewide has also grown in those two years, from 553 to 607. With that growth in numbers also came an increase in women apprentices. In 2013, only 3% of Montana Registered Apprenticeship participants were women. Today, women make up roughly 12% of apprentices. Johnson said that’s partly because more women are participating in apprenticeships in male-dominated industries like engineering, as well as the increase in apprenticeship offerings.
“Expanding the fields that are utilizing apprenticeships is bringing more people, including women, on board,” she said. “There’s more [apprenticeships] in health care, there’s apprenticeships in childcare, a lot of industries that are predominantly women.”
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