The owner of the Spokane Valley franchise of Visiting Angels, which offers in-home care services, has moved to larger quarters in the Valley and has opened a training center.
Trondheim  LLC, the Spokane Valley-based franchisee company owned by Cindy Johnson, has moved Visiting Angels into 1,300 square feet of leased space at 15413 E. Valleyway, from a smaller space at 9207 E. Mission.
Next door in the same building, Trondheim opened earlier this month the Professional Home Care Training Center as a division, leasing nearly 1,500 square feet of space, where people can enroll to take classes to meet new state requirements to become a certified home care aide.
The classes are open to all caregivers regardless of whether they work at Visiting Angels or elsewhere, says Jenny Gossman, the center’s training coordinator.
Gossman says the franchise owner saw a need for the training center because the state recently implemented new standards for caregiver training to become certified, requiring 75 hours of training for people entering the field and for returning workers who were caregivers prior to 2011.
Peggy Tooke, Visiting Angels service coordinator, says the in-home care service needed more space both to accommodate its growth and to open the training center.
The in-home care franchise now employs about 35 workers, who are mainly caregivers, which is up from about 15 caregivers in 2010.
Visiting Angels is a service that provides nonmedical care typically to elderly clients in homes but also to younger clients who need assistance because of an injury or disability.
The company provides in-home caregivers who can assist clients with personal hygiene, meal preparation, light housekeeping, errands, transportation, or simple companionship.
The training center, meanwhile, offers classes to help caregivers meet state requirements to become certified home care aides, which qualifies them to work in adult family homes, assisted-living facilities, or for in-home care agencies, Gossman says. The center also provides CPR and first-aid training.
The cost to complete the 75-hour session is $350, she says. The state charges separately additional fees for the test and certification, she says.
The training center charges $50 for a combined CPR and first-aid training class.
Gossman says the center oversees the overall training, and students complete 50 hours of the 75-hour training online from home.