b"DEMENTIA CARElead to challenges in providing care for our seniors, adds Heyer. Dementia is a complex disease, and care providers do not always have the skills and support to deliver the best care.CRADLE is helping address this skills gap across Canada by providing unregulated care providers, the largest paid workforce in Canadas health care system, with flexible opportunities to access specialized training. Craig Hillier, former Executive Director, Clinical Services, with the Northern Health Region in Manitoba, says CRADLE addresses the difficulty in finding accessible and culturally appropriate training for health care workers in hisremote location. Anyone travelling to Thompson, the biggest hub in northern Manitoba, from surrounding areas like Gillam or Fox Lake Cree Nation, faces a 300-kilometre drive across a gravel road that may be inaccessible due to forest fires or floods, says Hillier. Other communities here only have road access during the winter when theres an ice road. Leaving the home community to attend training is very difficultit may involve a flight or train travel, as well as lodging, and that presents a real challenge.Hillier says that with the challenges of health care recruiting right now, taking someone out of their community or workplace to travel for trainingeven if its only one dayhas a significant impact on the system. Its very good training thats accessible from almost anywhere if you can connect to the Internetand that can be a struggle in northern Manitoba, says Hillier. The program even provides Internet sticks for those who do needonline access.Hillier lives in a community with an Indigenous population that comprises 75% of the inhabitants. He praises the culturally appropriate content of CRADLE, noting it was well thought out and speaks to the community's specific needs. This appreciation is echoed by Debra Boudreau, a long-term care administrator in Atlantic Canada. It really engages the individual to stop, think and be interactive with the medium theyre learning from, adds Boudreau, Its free, theres no setup involved, and you can log on during your own time.CRADLE is part of a two-year longitudinal study that includes looking at the online trainings impact on unregulated care providers knowledge and satisfaction with education, and job-related and employer outcomes.CRADLE will be available online free of charge until December 2022. Heyer encourages learners across Canada to take advantage of CRADLE while they can and gain the practical knowledge to better support seniors and their care partners. LTCTTo learn more, visit the CRADLE website: https://www.conestogac.on.ca/subsidized-training/ health/canadian-remote-access-for-dementia- learning-experienceswww.oltca.com LONG TERM CARE TODAY 41"