Submitted
Ashley Mandel grew up on a farm near Alliance, Alberta. She went to school in Alliance until Grade 3 before transferring to Sedgewick, where she graduated. Mandel has two children - a four-year-old son, and an eighteen-month-old daughter. Mandel and her family have a farm (loving every minute of it) just outside of Alliance.
As a student in the Health Care Aide Program at the Campus Alberta Central (CAC) - Stettler site, Mandel drives weekly (one hour each way) to attend her labs, while the rest of the program is online.
Mandel heard about the program hosted at the Stettler Learning Centre through a family friend. She had been wanting to do some further schooling for years but had never got around to actually doing it. The Stettler Learning Centre was great at providing her with all the information required to get enrolled in the Health Care Aide program and more! Taking the program through CAC works for Mandel because she could take it online and only drives for labs, hence reducing her overall costs.
Always wanting to work in the healthcare field, Mandel chose the Health Care Aide program through CAC because she it was “an amazing starting point” for her. The fact that there’s a Government subsidy towards this program of $9,000.00 was even more enticing. The support services at the Stettler Learning Centre have been great; the staff have been very friendly and welcoming and always there to answer any questions.
Once Mandel completes the HCA certificate and gains some industry experience, she plans on doing some upgrading as she would like to become an EMT.