Biggest Barrier to Accessing Post-Secondary Education is Geography, says Manitoba Premier

The road to getting a new training facility in Neepawa has been a years-long one. While both town administration and residents were eager to bring post-secondary courses - and an LPN program specifically - into the community, they lacked an available facility that could accommodate the course. That all changed when the local RCMP detachment moved into their new home and their former building, which is within the downtown Neepawa area, could be expanded and repurposed.

Between the province’s investment of $2.1 million in the program itself and the town’s investment in the facility, the LPN program launched on schedule in January of 2024 and the official opening and ribbon cutting for the new facility took place on January 22, with Premier Wab Kinew and several MLAs in attendance.

“Anything we want to do in healthcare, it has to start with staffing,” said Kinew, who called the Provincial contribution a “supporting role” in launching the new program and the new facility. He also cited the upcoming hospital as an important investment in regional healthcare in Manitoba.

Assiniboine Community College President Mark Friesen and Prairie Mountain Health Chief Nursing Officer Treena Slate were also present at the ribbon cutting to talk about the partnership to launch the RPN program and the importance of a new post-secondary facility in rural Manitoba, especially in the healthcare field.

Premier Kinew also took the opportunity to answer other questions surrounding healthcare in Manitoba, including fast-tracking accreditation for overseas-educated healthcare and other professionals, and measures to help retain frontline healthcare workers.

The first local LPN class is expected to graduate around the same time that the new regional hospital will be opening in 2025. Future programs in the facility are still to be announced.