By Sutton Eaves
Ryerson has been selected to foster a health care administration program within the Canadian Armed Forces.
“We want to ensure that the Force’s Health Care Administrators are trained and qualified similar to their civilian counterparts, and we chose Ryerson University because it offers one of the best programs in the country,” said course director Capt. Larry Bonneville in a statement.
The program is part of the Force’s plan to accredit all of its 23 clinics nationwide.
Graduates will earn an equivalent to the Ryerson health services management certificate. This will equip them with the credentials to work in both the Forces and the public sector.
“We want to educate people within the Canadian Forces to function at an equivalent level as those in a civilian operation,” said Dan Shaffer of the Professional and Executive Development Group at Ryerson.
He said Ryerson was likely chosen for its reputation for providing practical and applicable education.
“We presented [the Forces] with a curriculum that was consistent with our hands-on learning philosophy at Ryerson. The whole concept of applied education is the thing that really attracted the Canadian Forces to us.”
Six faculty members from the school of health services management will train students to be medical clinic managers and health policy analysts at the Canadian Forces Medical Services School in Borden, near Barrie, Ont.
The eight-month course will consist of a repeating schedule: three and a half days in class followed by a two-week period of independent study.
The faculty members, selected by the school’s director, Paul Gamble, will continue teaching at Ryerson during the school year in addition to their class at the Borden base camp, said Shaffer.
“This is something the faculty is doing above and beyond their regular load.”
A three-year contract was signed in the summer, with the possibility of renewal for an additional two years upon its expiration. Classes started in the fall 2001 term.
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