Where to find CNA programs?

caliotter3 · Dec 4, 2008

When I needed my CNA course I got out the phone book and started calling. That was in the days before the internet. Try these: community colleges, private schools, adult schools in school district, nursing homes, employment centers (may be associated with the employment dept.), the employment dept. You can ask to speak to the Director of Staff Development at a nursing home. This person is usually responsible for the CNAs at a nursing home and would be very familiar with how they get their training. They might offer classes at their facility and offer you employment upon completion. Of all these options, if you find a course at a community college, that is usually best. You get college credit and sometimes these courses are mandatory for the school's nursing program. So you would be killing three birds with one stone. Go onto the website of your state's certifying authority. Sometimes they list schools, at least they do for nursing. Good luck.

rancelumsden · Dec 5, 2008

Calliotter3 gave you good answer --- just seconding it in the same order. :up:

Ling07 · Dec 5, 2008

I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania (around Scranton) and I am having a hard time finding a CNA course.
I found one from the Career Technology Center, but it is too long (from January to May) and I need to find one that is over with in about 6 weeks... I have a lot of bills I need to pay and I will be most likely be getting laid off from my retail job soon because I was hired as a seasonal employee.
If anyone knows of a good search engine or something that would be great, I tried Yahoo/Google but couldn't find much. Maybe I just suck at using search engines.
Any help would be appreciated! I am getting desperate.

I am having a hard time finding CNA classes in PA as well.

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Dec 5, 2008

In my area (not PA) everyone takes the class at the community college. There's also one nursing home that will train and certify you if you agree to work for them for a certain length of time. You can check out the Red Cross and see if they offer classes. Or if you're a nursing student you can "challenge" the test, and take it without a class.

I think your best bet it to call a local nursing home and ask the HR person how all their CNAs got certified.

yousoldtheworld · Dec 5, 2008

You could also consider calling the Department of Health...they are the ones in charge of CNA testing and certification, and they maintain the CNA registry. They might be able to tell you the local places that offer training.

As others said, nursing homes often offer classes for free. If you have a community college near you, they might offer classes too.

xlilchatonx · Dec 5, 2008

I see you also posted this in the PA section as well, so I don't know if you did not see what one of the staff posted, but for those of you who are in PA also that have not checked there this is what NRSKarenRN posted for us and it helped me, I broke it down so that it will take you right to where you can find places in your county!

http://www.pde.state.pa.us/career_edu/lib/career_edu/tblList_by_County.pdf

Hope that helps you out, just scroll down until you see the name of your county :]

Comfortable, Luzerne County Community College has a 3wk program to become a nurses aide. You can check out there website, if you want to know more info about their program and you have difficulty finding it (it's under continuing ed/non-credit) let me know I'll help you out! I also live by Scranton and Wilkes-barre so I know the area too.

Ling07 · Dec 6, 2008

I see you also posted this in the PA section as well, so I don't know if you did not see what one of the staff posted, but for those of you who are in PA also that have not checked there this is what NRSKarenRN posted for us and it helped me, I broke it down so that it will take you right to where you can find places in your county!

http://www.pde.state.pa.us/career_edu/lib/career_edu/tblList_by_County.pdf

Hope that helps you out, just scroll down until you see the name of your county :]

Comfortable, Luzerne County Community College has a 3wk program to become a nurses aide. You can check out there website, if you want to know more info about their program and you have difficulty finding it (it's under continuing ed/non-credit) let me know I'll help you out! I also live by Scranton and Wilkes-barre so I know the area too.

Yes, I saw this link. Thanks for posting it again. I applied to Holy Redeemer. I wish they had more information on their website. Did you do a CNA program from that list?

xlilchatonx · Dec 6, 2008

Well, no I haven't because I just saw this listing I think yesterday, but I DID e-mail one of the places on the list, Wesley Village. I think tomorrow I will also call the red cross to see if I have any options there. My school is extremely expensive for their CNA program ($875+books) so I will see what I can do, even though my school says that if you get a job as a CNA within 12months of certification the facility that employs you will reimburse you (prorated).