By: Zethu Gweva
If you are a lover of nurturing those who can not take care of themselves then Accord Business Academy (ABA) provides a three months course for one to become a Health Caregiver.
The ABA health caregivers is a course which was introduced in 1996 where students were trained to be qualified caregivers in places such as old age homes and being ward assistants in hospitals. The academy only accommodates 12 to 16 students per class.
According to the owner of ABA Ernest Baiden, this kind of academy was the first of its kind to be established in East London and they also have a branch in Port Elizabeth. He added that they have five old age homes in East London where they send their students to do practicals.
“Our student’s performance in these old age homes is great, and we have been working with some of these homes since 1996 and our relationship with the homes has been inseparable,” said Baiden.
The minimum entry requirements for the course is a grade 9 report. Baiden explained that although a person needs to have a grade 9 report, they make acceptions for those who have worked at a healthcare facility and have the experience.
“We do take in people without a grade 9, but we only enroll them if they have work experience from an old age home or any healthcare facility. We train and teach them so that a person can become a qualified health caregivers,” he said.
Home based care course is equivalent to NQF level 1. Baiden conveyed that it is only a three months course hence having a low level.
Speaking about the future of the academy, Baiden said they want to register the academy as a nursing school.
He added that the reason for registering the academy as a nursing school is because people apply with their matric certificates because they want to study something which they can finish quickly.
“Registering the academy as a nursing school is a process we have just started. “It takes three to four years to have a school registered as a nursing school.
“We have cases where we have people with matric who want jobs immediately and later want to continue their studies with the home based care certificate and they don’t know where to go,” he said.
Baiden added that they want to continue being trendsetters by bringing new opportunities in East London by helping people to get education and jobs in the metro and in other cities.
For more information on ABA contact: 081 345 5201