Update as of June 29, 2010
The BC Care Aide & Community Health Worker Registry is still open to applicants. As of June 29, 2010 all BC applicants must provide a copy of their BC health care assistant credentials whether they are working, not working or a graduate of a health care assistant training program.

ONLY REGISTER ONCE PLEASE. If your application is accepted you will be notified by email in approximately 2 weeks or less.

Canadian applicants with formal Health Care Assistant (HCA) Education who are living in BC and have graduated from a Canadian formal HCA education program will need to submit the following:

1) Registration online or an application and consent form.
2) A copy of your Health Care Assistant training credentials.
3) A reference letter which includes your competency references from the most current employer with call back details.
3) A character reference letter with call back details.

BC Nursing students who are currently enrolled in a BC nursing program (LPN, RPN or RN Programs)will be required to submit the following:

1) Please register yourself online and attach the following documents.
2) Proof of training to date from the education institution you are attending.
3) A competency letter completed by their most current instructor outlining competency in Health Care Assistant skills.
4) A character reference letter with call back details.

Internationally Educated Care Aide and Nursing Applicants (from out of Canada) will be required to submit the one of the following:

a) International Applicants - with education and Canadian Health Care Assistant experience:

Individuals who graduated from programs outside of Canada but who have worked as a care aide or community health worker in Canada will be required to submit a copy of their credentials and provide two references including a recently completed competency document from their most current employer with call back contact details.

or

b) International Applicants – with education but no Canadian experience:

Individuals who graduated from programs outside of Canada and have not worked as a care aide or community health worker in Canada will be asked to be evaluated (at their expense) by a third party such as the International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES) at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) www.bcit.ca/ices/

Please request the comprehensive evaluation at ICES.

If the assessment successfully determines a comparable level to current BC standards the individual will then provide the Registry two references including a recently written competency letter from their last employer.

Welcome to the BC Care Aide & Community Health Worker Registry! The registry is a database of credentialed, or “registered”, care aides and community health workers. The BC Care Aide & Community Health Worker Registry is offered to all care aides and community health workers who are employed or wish to be employed in B.C. by a publicly-funded employer. This includes acute care, assisted living care, long term care and home and community care.

If you are a care aide or community health worker wanting to register, please go to the Registration section of this site. If you are ready to register online now, click on the Register Now button on the right side of this page.

If you are a publicly-funded employer searching for care aides and/or community health workers, you will need to do the following:

• before you search for the first time you will need to create a login, click on the drop down section Registration, Register Now - Employers and complete the online form.

• once you have registered, you can check to see if an employee or potential employee is registered or not, click on the gold box Request a Search - For employers only button on the right side of this page. Enter your Username and Password to request a search to see if a specific care aide and/or community health worker is registered or not.

• There is also a section with Employer Information.


BC Care Aide & Community Health Worker Registry Role & Mandate

i. To protect vulnerable patients, residents and clients.

• To provide a database of credentialed (“registered”) care aides and community health workers who are eligible for employment in publicly-funded organizations and settings.

• To create a common process for employers in reporting and investigating patient, resident and client abuse complaints.

• To suspend from the Registry, and/or remove from the Registry after the completion of the appeal process, any care aides or community health workers who have been terminated by the employer for just cause for patient, resident or client abuse. The definition of “abuse” for these purposes is the same as the definition set out in the Residential Care Regulation part 5, division 2, section 52 (1) (a) of the Community Care and Assisted Living Act that states “A licensee must ensure that a person in care is not, while under the care or supervision of the licensee, subjected to

(a) financial abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect as those terms are defined in section 1 of Schedule D, or

(b) deprivation of food or fluids as a form of punishment.”

ii. To establish and improve standards of care in the Care Aide and Community Health Worker occupations.

• To establish a standard, provincially mandated Health Care Assistant Training Program and ensure that all future care aides and community health workers complete this program or an equally recognized program.

• To communicate the Care Aide and Community Health Worker Provincial Curriculum, including communication to supervisors and team leaders.

iii. To promote professional development for Care Aides and Community Health Workers and to assist these workers in identifying career opportunities.

To provide easy access, via the Registry website, on the following:

• Care Aide and Community Health Worker Framework of Practice

• Educational upgrade modules

• Information on new roles within the care aide and community health worker occupations