Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Training

A Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), also known as a nursing assistant, a resident assistant, or a patient care assistant, provides direct patient care. Many pre-health students find working or volunteering as a CNA to be a valuable clinical experience.

Some of the job duties of a CNA include:

• Aiding patients with activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, dressing, and exercise
• Measuring and recording patient vital signs
• Communicating patient condition to the care team (Cambridge Health).

Becoming a CNA requires enrollment in a ~80 hour course followed by subsequent knowledge and skills tests. The certification to practice as a CNA varies state-to-state, so be sure to look into your state’s requirements if you are planning to become a CNA elsewhere.

CNAs provide care in a variety of settings. From residential settings such as nursing homes and assisted living to clinical settings such as outpatient visits, hospital floors, and emergency rooms, CNAs are an essential part of the care team.

Every year, the CCCE, HeartCert, and Northfield EMS collaborate to create a Carleton-only course for 8 students during the last four days of spring break. There has been a lot of interest in the course in the past, so be sure to provide thoughtful responses on application materials. The course is held at Northfield Hospital + Clinics EMS Station at 1600 Riverview Lane. The CCCE reserves vehicles for students to drive themselves to the course together with two campus drivers. When applying for the course, you can also apply for funding to cover course costs and potentially the test-out cost.

What does the CCCE provide for students chosen for the spring break program?

• Lightly-used scrubs to keep for training and beyond
• Light snacks such as oatmeal, mac-n-cheese cups, granola bars

If you would like to work and train to become a CNA over the summer, there are many available options to take part it! You could work for LightenUp in June, work for SLAI in July, and then take the CNA training in August. The money earned from LightenUp and SLAI can then be put towards the cost of the CNA training course! Alternatively, you could participate in a summer internship during June, July, and August and take the CNA course in September, before the school year begins. Find CNA courses on the HeartCert website.

HeartCert is a local training program for people to become CNAs in Minnesota. The cost of the HeartCert course is $1,500. Any Carleton student using their Carleton email to register can register for a discounted cost of $1,250 by using the code CARLETON2025. The state licensing exam is a separate $240. Additionally, students will need to purchase scrubs for the classroom session. If these costs present a barrier, we encourage you to apply for the CCCE funding options. 

Whether or not you apply for funding, please let the CCCE know when you register for the course by emailing Erica Zweifel so we can keep you in the loop about CNA alumni events and employment opportunities.

Note: For those who are applying to the spring break course, the funding application is built into the course application.

The CCCE has a limited amount of funding, so we will be providing partial scholarships of up to $1,000 per student and prioritizing these scholarships for students who are able to work or volunteer in Rice County using their certification/training after completion of the course.  We have exhausted our funding for the 24/25 academic year, please check back next year for funding opportunities.

CCCE funding can be used for any available HeartCert classroom training dates, but if you receive CCCE funding you must be committed to completing the course. Applications will be reviewed by CCCE Professional Staff in the order received. 

If awarded funding by the CCCE, it is about a four-week turnaround from receipt of funding application to disbursement of funds. Please keep this and the 43-hour online training in mind when choosing classroom training dates.

The in-person sessions are held at Northfield Hospital + Clinics EMS Station at 1600 Riverview Lane. Transportation options for Carleton students include:

• Dial-a-ride through Hiawathaland Transit: Can take students directly to or from the EMS Station, 24-hour notice required and 6 days at earliest. Saturdays 7am-5pm, fill out this form. Dial-a-ride-tokens are available in the CCCE, you don’t need to purchase them.
• Carleton Fleet Vehicles: Can be used by campus drivers. The CCCE can help with reservations.
• Student carpooling: We encourage students with personal transportation to ride together. The CCCE can help coordinate carpooling.
• Bike: Biking from Sayles Hill Campus Center takes 13 minutes.
• Campus Go: Campus Go (formerly Carls Go) will transition the “Ride Pingo” app for ride requests. This service is available Monday–Friday from 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. while Carleton or St. Olaf is in session. Like Uber or Lyft, Pingo allows you to track the Campus Go van in real time, and schedule rides up to one hour before your trip — or plan ahead and book rides up to two weeks in advance. To use the shuttle, download the Ride Pingo app from the App Store or Google Play, create an account using your Carleton email, and request a ride.

Where to get scrubs:

• The Clothes Closet in Northfield may have used scrubs.
• Goodwill may have used scrubs. There are several locations near Northfield (Faribault, Lakeville).
• Scrubs & Beyond is located in Burnsville and is a good option to try on scrubs in person.
• Walmart in Faribault sells scrubs.
• Several online retailers, Amazon, eBay, etc. sell scrubs.
• The CCCE has some lightly used and new scrubs that students can keep.

There are a number of employment and volunteer opportunities available for students here in Rice County. Some of these opportunities require students to have their CNA certification, while others provide their own training.

• Laura Baker Services Association has employment positions as Direct Support Professionals (no CNA certification required). College students can work a minimum of one shift a month.
• Northfield Hospital and Clinics has employment for certified CNAs with flexible scheduling options for college students. To volunteer at the hospital visit this site to see the opportunities and process to become a volunteer.
• Northfield Retirement Community has employment positions for certified CNAs and an option for students to receive their CNA certification while working there. They have flexible hours for college students.
• Three Links Assisted Living is part of Saint Francis Health Services and has employment positions for certified CNAs, Patient Care Assistants (no CNA certification required) and an option for students to receive their CNA certification while working there. They also have volunteer opportunities at Three Links.
• ValleyView Assisted Living has employment positions for Resident Assistants.

Transportation for CNA Work in the Northfield community

Carleton Fleet vehicles under CCCE reservation cannot be used for personal/work reasons. Local options, such as CampusGo and Hiawathaland Transit, would be best to get to these locations. Many of these facilities are also within walking/biking distance in nice weather conditions.

Some public transport options, such as Hiawathaland Transit’s Dial-a-Ride, may not operate within the hours of typical CNA shifts. If this is a problem you run into, a potential option could be mixing and matching with a shuttle service, which is more time flexible:

6 am – 2 pm shift: Schedule a ride with First Choice Shuttle to get to work which has $10 one-way rides (CCCE may be able to offer you a voucher, check with us) and use Dial-a-Ride free of charge (CCCE has tokens) to get back to Carleton.

2 pm – 10 pm shift: Use Dial-a-Ride to get to work and First Choice Shuttle to get back to Carleton.

Review your transportation options for further details! If you have any questions about transportation please reach out to us, we will do our best to make getting to work as accessible as possible.

If you are a community partner with employment, volunteer, or training opportunities for CNAs (certified or non-certified) please email ccce@carleton.edu to get on this list.

Following the completion of the HeartCert CNA training course and passing the licensing exam, you will join the Minnesota Nursing Assistant Registry maintained by the Minnesota Department of Health. However, you can also transfer your license to many other states if you move or are working over the summer.

State-by-State guide to transferring your license

Minnesota’s testing sites and times

• South Central College is the closest location to Carleton College
• You could also test in the cities (such as St. Paul College), but you should arrange transportation
• The testing time that you are given is generally the whole day, or a range of hours, because your test time depends on when others who are testing with you finish their test

TMU is the MN testing website. Everyone testing in Minnesota must have a TMU account. Since you might be testing in MN after completing a training program in another state, you will get login information after signing up for a testing time, or create an account at the testing site. 

Contact information for the MN CNA officials, who can help if you have more specialized questions: health.fpc-nar@state.mn.us or (651) 201-4200. 

“It helped me connect a lot with the elderly residents of the Rice County community, especially in addressing their needs and desire for company”

– Diana Kachman ’23

“I think this program was a great opportunity to get certified and open endless job(s) that are very patient-oriented and rewarding.”

– Spring 2022 CNA Student

“I feel as though I have been able to have a richer experience with my community in this way. It really feels as if I am doing something, rather than simply talking about it.”

– Alexa Kong ’23