KIMT-TV Rochester: Minnesota National Guard Members receive training to become certified nursing assistants

The soldiers are receiving emergency training to help out at long term care facilities experiencing a shortage of healthcare workers.

By Jeremy Wall, November 28, 2021

Four hundred Minnesota National Guard members are training to become certified nursing assistants at 16 schools across the state. The soldiers are completing a rigorous eight day training totaling 75 hours of learning at schools including Riverland Community College and Minnesota State College Southeast's Red Wing campus. 

Calli Ekblad, a nursing assistant coordinator at Minnesota State College Southeast's Red Wing campus, says the call for training came on short notice.

"The Friday before last Friday, we were contacted and so as a college we had to figure out if we could do this," says Eckblad. "I mean it takes a lot of people to make this happen. We had until Monday of Thanksgiving week by 10 o'clock at night to figure out if we could be a sight and train these people. So we decided we could do it."
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