Smith Touts Success of Nursing Assistant Program
December marks the one-year anniversary of the Next Generation Nursing Assistant Initiative, a program to combat statewide staffing shortages at long-term care facilities and veterans’ homes. Senator Tina Smith says the program was made possible using federal funds she helped to secure with the passage of the American Rescue Plan
“The combination of the state program and the American rescue plan money that I help secure has really gotten great results and helped to fill a big gap.”
The program quickly exceeded its original goal of recruiting and training 1,000 new nursing assistants and to date, it’s trained 1,370 Minnesotans. Because of the huge initial success, the program has been extended through February of next year.