Okanagan College graduate launches home care business

A graduate of Okanagan College’s Health Care Assistant Program is combining her newfound skills with her passion for entrepreneurship in starting her own home care business.

Susan Kyle was inspired to go back to school to better understand her mother’s struggle with dementia. .

Kyle, who studied at the Salmon Arm campus, leaves OC with her Health Care Assistant Certificate. She also comes away with new skills and perspective.

“I changed in the way I wanted to change,” Kyle said in a Okanagan College news story. The program allowed her to improve her practical skills working with health in Revelstoke for a year. It also gave her opportunities to apply her organizational skills as a mother.

“I want other women with kids to know that you can go back to school and into the workforce,” she adds.

As a mature student in the program, Kyle says she felt welcomed and enjoyed the open communication and collaboration between students. She was also inspired by how serious her fellow students were at succeeding.

Throughout Kyle’s time in the program, her mother was struggling with dementia. She enrolled in the program to begin with to learn more about the condition and the health care system. And in the end, she says the program allowed her to properly support her mother before she passed away.

“You’d be amazed by how many clients you can get,” says Kyle. “There’s a need for home health care aids, and providing that service is a huge thing for me.”

Kyle points out that her own business has brought flexibility to her everyday life, good pay and a sense of fulfillment through helping those in need. She emphasizes that individuals who want to stay at home and work part-time can do so in this field.

Those looking to follow in her footsteps in Salmon Arm are in luck.

This April, the Health Care Assistant Certificate will be offered again at the Salmon Arm campus. The six-month program provides students with opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to be successful working in home support, assisted living, cognitive care, private care, and mental health care.