Workforce Development Spotlight: Antoine Woods
Antoine Woods is a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at Schofield Residence. He took that role by participating in the paid CNA training program offered in a partnership with Schofield Care, the Western New York Women’s Foundation and the University at Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center.
Antoine found out about the CNA training program from his roommate and it caught his interest. Antoine’s mom was a Home Health Aide, his sisters worked as CNAs, and he also wanted to help people.
Classes are held at both Schofield and the Employment Opportunity Center. The program is designed to provide participants with training and additional resources to support successful program completion and entry into the workforce.
“The instructors were amazing,” he said. “Ms. Diane (Hunger) is an A1 teacher.” Antoine said he learned a lot from all the instructors and finds that the skill sets he developed through the training are useful in everyday work.
For Antoine, the best aspect of working as a CNA is the residents. He said that he’s built relationships with them and they begin to feel like part of a family.
He likes to bring his personality to Schofield Residence: Antoine describes himself as loud, eccentric, and fun, but that doesn’t overshadow his dedication to being a hard worker and team player.
The experience with the Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center and the field of health care has sparked Antoine’s interest in learning more and continuing his professional education.
The CNA training program provides classroom instruction, hands-on skills training, and supervised clinical experience through a New York State-approved Nurse Aide Training Program. CNAs can work in skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, and other healthcare settings where certified nursing assistant services are provided. The partnership also offers Personal Care Aide (PCA) training with Schofield's Home Care Agency and Home Health Aide (HHA) training within Schofield Home Care and GreenField Terrace.
Learn more at https://schofieldcare.org/training.