Teens
who want a future as a carpenter or a electrician can get their career
on track early with a new career training program. The Teen Apprentice
Program is recruiting 30 grade 10 students from five high schools in
southern New Brunswick to learn a skilled trade.
Mark
Sherman of program founding member, Irving Oil, tells CHSJ News that the
average age of the building trades journey-person in the province is 50
years old, meaning many jobs will need to be filled in the future. He
estimates that between 5000-8000 jobs will need to be filled just to
replace a retiring workforce.
20 businesses will taken on the
students, and by the time they graduate from high school, they will have
completed the skilled trade apprenticeship block 1 training hours in
their trade of choice.
Health
problems are bad enough without feeling out of the loop about your
treatment, and Fredericton activist Monica McNally is petitioning the
board of Horizon Health for an independent patient advocate to make sure
people get the answers they're seeking.
McNally
tells CHSJ News under the current system, patient advocates are hospital
employees and as a result aren't exactly impartial. She'd like to see a
totally independent advocate, like an ombudsman, to answer questions
and make sure patients are treated with respect.
She says her
son, Laurie, was misdiagnosed and treated disrespectfully by some
hospital staff as he recovered from a life-altering bowel surgery. She
says the province can't afford to make errors with people's treatment.
