Last week the province announced over $600,000 in one-time funding to support 78 new health-care spaces at three Vancouver Island post-secondary institutions.

Camosun College received $246,400 to fund 32 health-care assistant program spaces and North Island College (Comox Valley campus) received $133,371 to fund 20 spaces. North Island College (Port Alberni campus), in partnership with the Justice Institute of British Columbia, also received $24,651 to support nine students in the emergency medical responder program.

Vancouver Island University (Nanaimo campus) received $100,819 to fund 12 community mental health worker program spaces and its Parksville campus received $95,327 to fund 12 community health promotion worker for Aboriginal communities program spaces.

The funding was given to help the immediate needs of specific communities by aligning the supply of trained health-care professionals with demand.

katie@goldstreamgazette.com