Local Private Career College Training Future Personal Support Workers Online Amidst Pandemic
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario – Progressive Training College of Business & Health (PTC) continues to train critical healthcare frontline workers amidst the Covid-19 pandemic by utilizing online learning. Within days of the Government of Ontario announcing business closures, PTC was able to pivot its operations to ensure its incoming Personal Support Worker students could still start their program without delay.
“Once the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities granted us temporary permission to deliver the in-class portion of this program via distance education, we were ready to go with a framework in place.” Says Ti-An DeMartines, Director of Government Relations at PTC. “Unlike the larger public colleges, our more intimate class sizes allowed us to transition to a new delivery model at the drop of a hat, while still being able to offer our students the one-on-one attention that PTC is known for. At a time when Personal Support Workers are needed now more than ever, it is so important to us, our students and our community that classes could go ahead, and we are proud that we have been able to deliver.”
Marcia Chindamo, Campus Director and Personal Support Worker instructor at Progressive Training College’s Sault Ste. Marie Campus stated that "As soon as the mandatory measures were rolled out by The Ontario Government, PTC wasted no time in getting laptops to those students who were without. We ensured these laptops were delivered promptly to the student's door. Our mandate was to make certain that every student had the ability to continue their education during this very difficult time. Progressive Training College's transition to remote learning classrooms was seamless. All of our Business and Personal Support Worker students continued to receive full support from their teachers in our online format.” Marcia continues: “PTC is preparing our PSW students for a frontline role in the fight against COVID-19 within our community and long-term care facilities. As a way of expressing our commitment to community and sincere gratitude to our frontline workers, PTC partnered with Vince Deluca, owner of Deluca's Pizzeria and Restaurant to provide a pizza lunch to the staff at the FJ Davey Home, on Friday May 1, 2020. It is heartwarming to see our community working together, leaning on each other, and getting through this as a team.”
Progressive Training College of Business & Health is a registered Private Career College celebrating its 21st year in operation, offering diploma and certificate programs in Business Management, Office Administration, Personal Support Worker, Production Clerk, Customer Service, First Aid/CPR and more. PTC has campuses throughout Ontario in North York, Scarborough, Barrie, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.