Колледж Оканегана запускает два новых медицинских лабораторных направления в 2027 году

Okanagan College to open 2 medical lab programs next year Published 1:12 pm Monday, August 24, 2026 Okanagan students interested in working in medical laboratories will soon have the opportunity to conduct their training locally. Okanagan College will be opening two new health programs starting in the Fall 2027 Semester. The new programs centre around medical lab work, being a Medical Lab Technologist (a two-year program) and Medical Lab Assistant, which is a six-to-eight-month program. The college is taking applications for 50 people who are interested. Those who want to join the program can submit expressions of interest in preparation to apply in September 2027. For the Medical Lab Assistant program, potential students can fill out a form here, while those interested in the Medical Lab Technologist program can fill out this form. “Laboratory professionals work behind the scenes, but they are involved in the care of almost every patient experience, whether it’s diagnosing disease, monitoring treatment, supporting emergency care, or preventing the spread of infectious illness. Every lab result provides critical information that guides medical decision-making and shapes the next steps in a patient’s care,” said Joanne Isber, program director of pathology and laboratory medicine at Interior Health, during a celebration of the upcoming programs on Aug. 24. Brittany Osborne, who works as a medical lab technologist for Interior Health in Vernon, said she wished there was a local medical lab program when she was taking her studies. Osborne, who began her career in 2006, said she had to move to Ontario to finish her education. She said a local program would have allowed her more time to spend with her family. “The opportunity to do the schooling here was not a thing, so having this program available, for me, would have allowed me to stay with my kids, and let alone the financial aspect of it all,” she said, adding that now, her career is “very rewarding” and provides a flexible work-life balance. “I’m excited these programs are going to be offered right here in our community and grow the number of people in the profession.” The addition of the two programs is predicted to help fill future gaps in the medical lab fields, the college said. According to the 2025 B.C. Labour Market Outlook, it is expected that there will be more than 4,000 job openings for medical lab technologists and assistants in the next 10 years due to expansion of the healthcare sector and worker attrition. The new programs were supported by a $1.5 million investment from the provincial government and will be built in partnership with Interior Health. “People in the Interior deserve to access care close to home, and that starts with training the people who deliver it. By working with Interior Health to build medical laboratory technologist and medical laboratory assistant programs, Okanagan College is helping create a stream of skilled health-care professionals who can train in their own communities and build their careers there. This is exactly what community-based post-secondary education should do: respond to the needs of the community, connect students to real jobs, and help keep skilled people close to home,” said Jessie Sunner, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.