Over 20 permanent Licensed Practical Nurse student spots coming to Steinbach – SteinbachOnline.com

Steinbach Economic Development (SED) is working hard to improve healthcare in our City. 

SED explained how they are supporting Steinbach’s healthcare sector to Steinbach City Council at the Strategic Priorities Committee meeting earlier this month.  

SED Executive Director, Michelle Bezditny, says they have been in contact with Southern Health, and with physicians overseas who have already chosen Steinbach as their home.  

“Happy to report that two of those people have been identified with the province as having their credentials recognized, so they will be proceeding with some of those exams coming in 2025.”  

She says upon completion of those exams, Steinbach may have two local physicians ready to practice.   

“So that’s just a bit of an update on healthcare, and how we have taken that proactive approach to engage with Southern Health and establish that network.”  

Bezditny has been actively involved with Assiniboine Community College (ACC) and Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technologies (MITT).   

She says the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program through ACC will be in Steinbach in the fall of 2025, providing there are no obstacles.   

“With this LPN training, the funding is already there, they have asked the provincial government to move their primary spots from a different community to Steinbach.”  

Bezditny informs this is happening thanks to good networking.  

“That has happened by a lot of communication, relationships, and networking. So I’m happy to report that ACC has plans to move their permanent, I think it’s about 22 to 25 spots, to Steinbach in fall of 2025.”  

SED has been in communication with the CEO of Rest Haven to discuss how MITT and ACC can launch their training, which Bezditny says Rest Haven is very open to having training there.  

She adds ACC planned to launch Healthcare Aid training in a community in the Southeast region, and ACC and SED both agreed Steinbach would be a great place to do so.  

“So we’re in process of potentially launching that Health Care Aid training in Steinbach in winter.”  

Bezditny says it’s nice to have Steinbach be present, not only at the local and provincial levels, but also at the national level when it comes to workforce development training.  

She notes SED put in an application to Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP), which is an employee-employer matching service.  

“It attracts newcomers for an economic purpose. What SED would do then is approve the applicant, so we’re waiting on confirmation from the federal government.”  

SED President, Christine Beaumont, says initially SED’s main goal as an organization was to work on bringing new businesses to Steinbach.  

She says while they have definitely worked on that, their measure for success has changed.   

“We’re looking to build an environment and a climate that is conducive for not only bringing new businesses in, but also for expanding and building a climate where our existing businesses can thrive.”  

Beaumont says 80 per cent of economic development comes from within, so they learned that they need to focus on those businesses that are here already, in terms of supporting them in opportunities for expansion.  

“And the funny thing is when we do that, when we build a good environment for existing businesses, it also creates a good environment for new investment.”  

She says one of the biggest challenges that they’ve heard from their stakeholders and from businesses is workforce.  

“There’s a big challenge in terms of our current employers in Steinbach filling vacancies within their business.”  

In light of that, one of the areas that SED shifted their focus on is workforce development.  

To help with workforce development, SED has made access to healthcare and primary care a large focus.  

“How are we going to attract workers to our business if they can’t live in Steinbach and have access to primary care? it’s just one of the basic things.”