Caregivers on Vancouver Island come from all walks of life, from family members and companions with no formal training to certified caregivers registered to work with government-funded clients. Here's how the tiers break down, and what it takes to work with us.
Uneducated caregivers
These are people working in a caregiving role without completing a recognized course. They typically work with their own family members, private families, some private home care agencies, and provincially-funded group homes for developmentally disabled adults.
Certified caregivers
Certified caregivers have completed a recognized caregiving course covering safe patient handling, medication administration, and dementia care. On top of the work above, they can work for skilled home care agencies and non-government-funded facilities.
The Health Career Access Program (HCAP) pays you to complete a one-year work-study program to become a certified caregiver, with a one-year return of service to the government afterward. It's an excellent program and we highly recommend it.
Registered caregivers
Registered caregivers are certified caregivers who have obtained a BC Care Aide Registry number. There's no extra education attached to registration. It's simply an added designation that requires ongoing renewal of their Solicitor General criminal record checks. Registration is what lets a caregiver work with government-funded clients and worksites, including hospitals, facilities, schools, and home care.
Getting hired with CommunityPlus
To work with us, you need to be a skilled caregiver capable of dementia care, medication administration, and safe patient handling, with real experience caring for seniors. Not all of our caregivers are certified and registered, but all of them are skilled. If you're reliable, conscientious, and passionate about community health, check our job postings.
Staying employed with us means being a great caregiver and a great employee. Those are two different things, and we need both.
Why both halves matter
Some people are amazing, intuitive caregivers but have challenging employment behaviours: excessive short-notice absences, not communicating changes in availability, not returning messages in a reasonable time. No matter how gifted you are with clients, it doesn't matter if you don't show up and communicate.
Other people are reliable employees who show up and communicate but aren't as attentive or conscientious as we need. That shows up as missed or incomplete tasks, skipping work they don't enjoy, or leaving someone without the help they need. Reliability as an employee doesn't make up for inconsistent care.
Are we a herd of unicorns? Perhaps yes.
Don't take this job if you don't have a passion for it. Home caregiving demands exceptional patience and skills you won't understand until you're in the work itself.