CNA Certification Offered at Perham Living

In July, The Minnesota Department of Health began a pilot program with seven nursing homes with a certified training program for nurse aides (CNAs) to offer testing at their facilities for Nurse Aide Certification.

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“We thank all testing facilities for their flexibility and commitment to offer opportunities for nurse aide candidates and prepare Minnesota’s nurse aide workforce,” King said. At this time, facilities are only testing their students, who have trained in their program.

Perham Living is a nationally recognized leader in older adult services offering post-acute care, home care, assisted living, adult day services, apartment living, memory care assisted living, and a nursing home community within its campus.

“We want to thank the seven facilities who volunteered to participate in the program and who have been going above and beyond in making this program successful,” Health Regulation Division Director Maria King said. The program’s purpose is to expand nurse aide testing opportunities throughout Minnesota.

Seven facilities volunteered to participate in the pilot program:

Perham Living, Perham, Minn.
Good Samaritan Society Albert Lea, Albert Lea, Minn.
Elim Wellspring Health Care Center, Princeton, Minn.
LifeCare Roseau Manor, Roseau, Minn.
CentraCare Health-Melrose Care Center, Melrose, Minn.
North Shore Health, Grand Marais, Minn.
Good Samaritan Society Pipestone, Pipestone, Minn.

Tracy Hendrickx, Perham Living VP of Long-Term Care, says, “Testing locally is a great benefit to our students, residents, and the community. Not only are we able to train students – which we have been doing for years – but with the availability to also test students at Perham Living, students have much more flexibility in classes; they don’t have to travel as far. They can often test in the environment where they received their training.” Before Perham Living could test, a number of their CNA students who had completed the training requirements could not find a testing site within a reasonable time or driving distance.

“The opportunity to test locally opens several doors,” Hendrickx added. “For students, they can test more timely to completing training, can test where they took training, and get in the workforce sooner. For Perham Living, there is the potential to alleviate workforce shortages by having prospective employees trained and tested at our facility much sooner than before when there were fewer testing locations.”

“We thank all testing facilities for their flexibility and commitment to offer opportunities for nurse aide candidates and prepare Minnesota’s nurse aide workforce,” King said. Currently, facilities only test their students who have trained in their program.