Selkirk College will begin offering a medical laboratory assistant program at its Trail campus next year.
The college announced that the program, supported by $400,000 from the the provincial government, will “respond directly to a critical shortage of medical laboratory assistants across Interior Health and the province.”
The one-year program includes three semesters of in-class learning followed by a regional practicum. The college says it will prepare graduates to step directly into medical laboratory assistant roles within Interior Health and other health care settings.
Selkirk College is developing the program based on an accredited curriculum provided by Camosun College. The first cohort in 2027-28 will have 24 students. Applications are expected to be accepted starting around October of this year.
Medical laboratory assistants support the smooth operation of diagnostic services by collecting blood and other samples, processing specimens, performing routine tests and entering data.
Tammie Clarke, dean of Selkirk’s School of Health and Human Services, said they are proud to bring the program to the region.
“As the only program of its kind in our area, it’s a meaningful step toward strengthening local health care,” she said. “We’ll be training skilled professionals right here in our communities, for our communities.”
Clarke said the program has only been in the works since last October. After receiving the go-ahead from college president Maggie Matear, they reached out to Camosun about acquiring the curriculum. Clarke then started working on a proposal for the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education, which was approved earlier this year.
“I would say that was lightning speed,” Clarke said. “It just speaks to what can happen when people work together.”
Joanne Isber, the program director for pathology and laboratory medicine at Interior Health called the new program “an important step in strengthening the local health workforce. By training closer to home, graduates are more likely to stay in the region to help reduce wait times for lab collections and support the testing and care patients rely on every day across our region.”
Trail mayor Colleen Jones said the program’s development is “an excellent example of what can happen when a community identifies a challenge and works collaboratively toward a solution.
“When concerns arose regarding laboratory staffing shortages and the future of outpatient lab services in Trail, it became clear that we needed to look beyond the immediate issue and focus on long-term solutions. One of the ideas I brought forward was the creation of a local training program through Selkirk College to help build a sustainable workforce for our region.”
The provincial government has identified medical laboratory assistants as a high-opportunity occupation, with more than 2,200 job openings expected over the next decade according to WorkBC.
The province’s grant will contribute to curriculum purchase and program development, start-up lab equipment, and ongoing operating costs. The government said the program will run depending on regional demand, which may be every year, every other year, or as needed.
