South Australian Not For Profit aged care provider Helping Hand Aged Care has agreed to partner with Port Augusta Technical College, which is due to open in 2025, to help create a pipeline of graduates to work in aged care.
Port Augusta Technical College will be co-located at Port Augusta Secondary School, and will support students completing years 10 to 12 while undertaking vocational education and training (VET).
CEO Helping Hand
Helping Hand will:
- provide work experience for up to 20 students per term at its Port Pirie, Whyalla, and Jamestown aged care homes,
- provide work placements for up to 60 year 11 students per year, and
- support 20 school-based apprenticeships.
Helping Hand CEO Chris Stewart said this year it has partnered with Findon Technical College, which opened in January, to offer a similar VET program.
“Working with Port Augusta Technical College allows us to create a pathway for students by encouraging them to consider a career with an aged care provider, which they can walk into immediately after completing their studies," he said.
In May, Helping Hand announced it will be able to upgrade two aged care homes, Copperhouse Court and Yeltana, in regional Whyalla, 400km north west of Adelaide, with the support of $17.2 million in Federal Government grants. In 2022, Helping Hand acquired Kindred Living which had been operating in Whyalla since 1968.
