Diploma in Environmental Technician (Fast Track)

at Centennial College - Morningside Campus Canada

The Environmental Technician program will prepare you for work in the growing field of environmental technology. Courses will cover the three foundational disciplines of biology, chemistry and civil engineering while teaching you to understand and manage complex environmental problems. The program will include hands-on training as you'll learn to use the tools and equipment needed in water and soil quality analysis, ecological field sampling, analytical chemistry and surveying. Opportunities will exist for participation in local conservation and restoration activities.

A unique combination of technical skills will greatly increase your career options once you graduate from this applied science program, which is the recipient of the President's Academic Program Recognition Award for Quality of the Learning Experience.

Program Highlights

• Graduates are qualified to write the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Operator-in-Training exam.
• Program graduates may be eligible to apply credits towards university degree programs.
• Transfer credits/advanced standing may be awarded for previous science or engineering education.
• The Biotechnology, Environmental Technology, and Food Science Technology programs share a common first semester, which provides the flexibility to transfer between programs before starting the second semester.
• Opportunities exist for participation in local conservation and restoration activities.

Drinking Water Operators
If you successfully complete the entry-level course for drinking water operators, you'll meet the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment's entry-level course for drinking water operators. Centennial College delivers this course in partnership with the Ministry of the Environment and the Walkerton Clean Water Centre.

Centennial College's Food Science Technology program will examine the many processes food undergoes as it travels from the field to your fork.

In the advanced diploma program, which the School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science facilitates, you'll gain theoretical, technical and practical training in the three fundamental disciplines of biology, chemistry and food science.

Courses in this college science program will teach you to integrate and apply knowledge within the disciplines of chemistry, engineering, physics, biology and nutrition to preserve, process, package and distribute foods that are healthy, affordable, desirable and safe to eat.

Program Highlights

• Comprehensive laboratory training helps you to take your skills from foundational to professional.
• Through practical Food Science Tech courses, hands-on experience is acquired with a wide range of instrumentation.
• The Biotechnology, Environmental Technology and Food Science Technology programs share a common first year, which provides the flexibility to transfer between these programs before entering the second year.

Centennial College's Healthcare Environmental Services Management (HESM) program was designed to meet the demand for qualified environmental services managers with the ability to develop systems and processes to protect workers, clients and patients from environmental hazards in the health care setting and operate buildings that are safe.

Today's health care environment is changing, and there's an increased need for infection control measures, outbreak or pandemic planning, isolation cleaning levels, emergency preparedness and timely response in the health care setting. In this college health diploma program's courses, you'll learn to develop, implement, and monitor operating systems and preventative maintenance in the housekeeping, laundry, maintenance and transportation areas within the environmental department of a health care facility. You'll also learn about the emergence of new technologies to fight antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" and to help support disease control of bacteria and viruses.

The curriculum will include concepts of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as well as going "green" for a healthier environment and to reduce pollution and the carbon footprint. You'll also research the use of effective eco-friendly products with lower volatile organic compounds.

To help you acquire the necessary skills, the HESM program will also expose you to the industry's best practices and continuous quality improvements to coordinate and monitor building, sanitation, maintenance and operating systems. You'll also be informed of the wide range of environmental issues health care facilities encounter as they work to comply with the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Health Canada, Occupational Health and Safety, Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) and other regulatory requirements. As part of Public Health Ontario, the PIDAC has created best practice documents, reports and recommendations on matters related to communicable diseases, immunization, and infection prevention and control and surveillance. Centennial's HESM program is recognized as a recommended program that managers and supervisors in environmental service departments can attend when directly related to environmental cleaning in health care.

Through this offering, you'll combine health care environmental service knowledge with business and human relations, critical thinking and problem solving skills. This combination will prepare you to work with a diverse team in this challenging field.

As a Centennial College HESM student and graduate, you may be eligible to apply for Ontario Healthcare Housekeepers' Association and Canadian Association of Environmental Management memberships. Both are recommended for employment opportunities.

Program Highlights

• The Healthcare Environmental Services Management program will incorporate classroom lectures, hands-on practical lab experience, field trips and guest speaker presentations.
• Experiential learning and practical skill development will occur on campus in designated lab areas and in computer labs with industry-specific software.
• Included in this School of Community and Health Studies program will be two field placements in semester 3 and 4.
• The diploma you'll earn reflects high standards of learning and transferable skills.

As a Healthcare Environmental Services Management graduate, you'll be able to reliably demonstrate the ability to:

• Support the provision of a healthy, safe and sanitary health care environment according to guidelines set by current legislation, standards and regulations;
• Analyze infection prevention and control practices to ensure compliance with current legislation standards and regulations;
• Effectively work as part of an interprofessional health care team to ensure successful functioning of the facility;
• Apply quality management principles in compliance with requirements established by the organization and regulatory bodies;
• Manage the health care environmental services operations as outlined by the departmental/organizational business plan;
• Develop ongoing personal and professional development strategies and plans to achieve realistic career goals and to enhance management skills;
• Analyze and evaluate the impact of social, ethical and legal issues on individual and/or organizational operations within a health care environmental services context;
• Contribute to the development, implementation and evaluation of recruitment, orientation, training, development and retention programs for health care environmental services employees;
• Develop and evaluate a departmental budget that reflects fiscal accountability and financial planning;
• Apply effective human resource management practices to enhance organizational and individual productivity and performance;
• Document, generate and maintain all required records in compliance with current healthcare environmental services regulations, standards and established protocol.

The Environmental Technician (Fast-Track) program allows qualified college or university graduates to gain direct admission into Year 2 (Semester 3) of the two-year program to receive their Technician diploma in one year (two semesters).

This program will prepare you for work in the growing environmental technology field by covering the three foundational disciplines of biology, chemistry and civil engineering, and teaching you to understand and manage complex environmental problems. The technology program will include hands-on training as you'll learn to use the tools and equipment needed in water and soil quality analysis, ecological field sampling, analytical chemistry and surveying.

The unique combination of technical skills will greatly increase your career options once you graduate from the Environmental Technician program, which has received the President's Academic Program Recognition awards for Quality of the Learning Experience and for Outstanding Graduate Satisfaction.

Program Highlights:-

• Opportunities exist for participation in local conservation and restoration activities.
• Graduates of this Environmental Technician (Fast-Track) program can write the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Operator-in-Training (OIT) and Water Quality Analyst (WQA) exams.
• Graduates can apply to register with the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologist (OACETT).

Drinking Water Operators:-
If you successfully complete the entry-level course for Drinking Water Operators, you'll meet the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment's entry-level course for drinking water operators. Centennial College delivers this course in partnership with the Ministry of the Environment and the Walkerton Clean Water Centre.

This Biotechnology - Advanced program will prepare you with the scientific principles, techniques and skills required in industrial microbiology and chemistry. In this applied science program, you'll also study biotechnology applications, biochemistry, microbial genetics, and clinical and environmental microbiology.

Your Biotechnology - Advanced courses will teach you to: 

• Isolate, enumerate and identify microorganisms from many types of samples;
• Accurately calibrate and use instruments such as pH and BOD meters, gas chromatographs, spectrophotometers, HPLCs, centrifuges, PCR thermocyclers and gel electrophoresis equipment;
• Prepare media and reagents to culture pathogenic microbes;
• Design and perform advanced microbiology and microbial genetics experiments;
• Isolate DNA and perform gel electrophoresis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on samples.

Medical Laboratory Assistant/Technician are important members of the Medical Laboratory Science profession. Centennial College's Medical Laboratory Technician program will immerse you in the exciting and rewarding world of the medical laboratory, which offers a unique combination of technical employment and the satisfaction of working with a diverse client population.

This is a competency-based program. The program's curriculum is based on the national (CSMLS) standards and the provincial (MLPAO) standards of practice for entry-level medical laboratory assistants/technicians (MLA/T). Areas of focus to ensure students become proficient are; blood sample collection, performing ECGs, operating laboratory equipment, medical terminology and laboratory computer. Students will also develop the professional attitude and mannerism for close patient contact as excellent communication and good interpersonal skills are essential.

The theoretical and practical portions of this Centennial College program will be completed within a year. The third and final semester will be an unpaid clinical field placement with hospital and private laboratory partners that will offer real-work experience. The compressed delivery format makes the Medical Laboratory Technician program an ideal choice if you wish to enter the workforce quickly.

Medical laboratory assistant/technician work under the direction and supervision of a medical laboratory technologist. Their duties include specimen collection, performing ECGs, positioning Holter monitors, processing specimens and basic laboratory testing. With the MLA/T's role expanding, there are opportunities for employment in clinics, private laboratories and hospital laboratories as well as in government, research and veterinary laboratories.

The Personal Support Worker program will prepare you with the knowledge and skills to provide compassionate care when assisting patients, clients and residents with broad-spectrum conditions and health care needs. Your help will enable them to lead active and fulfilling lives in the community and institutions, both here and abroad.

The Personal Support Worker courses will focus on the full range of home and health-related services required by individuals with physical disabilities, cognitive impairments, and chronic and acute illnesses. The skills and knowledge you receive will give you the flexibility to adapt to a variety of settings such as hospitals, homes, schools, community residential agencies, and long-term or chronic care facilities.

During your time in the Personal Support Worker program you'll learn through a hands-on approach facilitated by hospital and community health care-experienced faculty members. Additionally, clinical and community setting learning opportunities will allow you to offer direct care to patients, clients and residents. You'll gain experience caring for persons across their lifespan and learn to effectively communicate and collaborate with members of an interprofessional health care team.

Program Highlights

• This Personal Support Worker program reflects the latest practices and policies in the field.
• You'll spend 14 weeks gaining extensive practical experience by working with teams in hospitals, long-term care institutions and the community. Many students have been offered employment in the agencies in which they completed their placements.
• With one instructor to each small group of clinical placement students, you'll have the support necessary to learn, grow and practice your newly acquired skills.
• Faculty members are experienced, caring and supportive.
• Community agencies and clinical settings recognize the certificate you'll earn.

In accordance with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (2014) program standards, once you complete the Personal Support Worker program, you'll have the ability to:

• Work within the personal support worker role and participate as a member of the interprofessional care/service team and maintain collaborative working relationships in the provision of supportive care in the community, retirement homes, long-term care homes and/or hospital care settings in accordance with all applicable legislation as well as your employer's job description, policies, procedures and guidelines;
• Act responsibly and be accountable for your actions while recognizing the boundaries of knowledge and skills within the personal support worker role that require collaboration with the individuals, families, supervisors and/or other members of the interprofessional care/service team;
• Provide person-centred and person-directed care that's based on ethical principles, sensitive to personal values and family values, beliefs and needs, and which follows the direction of the plan of care or service plan;
• Establish and maintain helping relationships with individuals and their families reflecting open communication, professional boundaries and employer's policies, and adhering to confidentiality and privacy legislation;
• Identify relevant client information using basic assessment and communication skills and report and document findings in accordance with the requirements of employer policies and procedures and all applicable legislation;
• Promote and maintain a safe and comfortable environment for individuals, their families, self and others, including the implementation of infection prevention, control measures and emergency first aid procedures that are in keeping with the plan of care/service plan, employer policies and procedures, and all applicable legislation;
• Assist individuals across their lifespan with routine activities of daily living by applying basic knowledge of growth and development, common alterations in functioning, disease prevention, health promotion and maintenance, rehabilitation and restorative care;
• Assist individuals with medication, keeping with the direction of the plan of care or service plan, under the direction and monitoring of a regulated health professional or most accountable person and in accordance with all applicable legislation and employer's policies;
• Assist with household management tasks and instrumental activities of daily living in accordance with the plan of care or service plan, considering the preferences, comfort and safety of patients, clients, residents, families and significant others;
• Assist individuals who are caring for dependent individuals, considering client and family choices, professional boundaries and the direction of the plan of care or service plan;
• Identify and report situations of neglect, potential, alleged or witnessed/actual incidents of abuse, and respond in accordance with all applicable legislation and employer's policies and procedures;
• Assist in the provision of culturally relevant palliative and end-of-life care to patients, clients and residents experiencing a life-threatening illness and to their families and significant others, from diagnosis through death and bereavement, in accordance with personal decisions and the plan of care/service plan;
• Use identified approaches and best practices to support positive strategies and safe responses for people experiencing cognitive impairment, mental health challenges and/or responsive behaviours.

The Nutrition and Food Service Management program at Centennial College is the longest established two-year program of its kind in the Greater Toronto Area.

This health diploma program has been the recipient of numerous awards for its approach to preparing students to pursue challenging careers as managers in the dynamic and growing health care and food service industry. Nutrition and Food Service Management has received the Centennial College President's Academic Program Recognition awards for Job Market Preparation, Student Satisfaction, Graduate Satisfaction, Employer Satisfaction and Quality of the Learning Experience.

In this School of Community and Health Studies program, you'll learn to combine food service administration and health care to interpret and apply nutritional care principles to promote health and effectively manage a food service department. Major topic areas will include:

• Healthy Nutrition Counselling 
• Food service Operations
• Safety and sanitation
• Accounting Principles 
• Human resource management
• Financial management
• Menu planning
• Large quantity cooking
• Menu design applications
• Medical nutrition therapy

The Canadian Society of Nutrition Management (CSNM) accredits the Nutrition and Food Service Management program. When you graduate, you'll be eligible for membership in the CSNM. CSNM membership is a requirement of Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to work as a food service manager in long-term care facilities and many acute care facilities. As such, you'll be fully prepared with specialized knowledge and eligible to work in health care. 

Program Highlights

• Using the School of Community and Health Studies and the School Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts' resources, you'll learn the practical aspects of large quantity food preparation and conduct experiments to learn the physical properties of food.
• The program is made up of four semesters (fall and winter intakes). 
• The final six weeks of the program will consist of an  approved  field placement which will be  organized by the college. Field placement will be  a supervised  practicum in healthcare. 
• Faculty members are typically members of the CSNM or the College of Dietitians of Ontario. They have experience in food manufacturing, the retail industry, food service management, clinical nutrition, and consulting in acute and long-term care.

When you graduate from Nutrition and Food Service Management, you'll have the ability to:

• Plan menus to accommodate the nutritional, dietary and medical needs, cultural and religious requirements, and personal preferences of clients;
• Supervise and evaluate the handling, preparation and service of food to ensure compliance with relevant legislation, organization policies, and procedures and industry best practices for health, safety, sanitation, quality assurance and client satisfaction;
• Provide for the nutritional needs of diverse clients in health care settings in collaboration with or under the direction of members of the interprofessional health care team;
• Comply with and support others to work in accordance with industry, organization and legal standards for professional and ethical conduct;
• Apply relevant local, national and global trends, emerging technologies, and changes to legislation to enhance work performance and support management decisions;
• Deliver customer service that anticipates, meets or exceeds individual expectations and is consistent with organization standards and objectives;
• Participate in the hiring, coaching, training, scheduling, supervision and performance evaluation of department staff in accordance with human resources, labour relations, workplace health and safety, and industry best practices;
• Participate in the management of inventory and the procurement of goods and services according to industry best practices, financial constraints, and principles of social responsibility and environmental sustainability;
• Contribute to the analysis of food and nutrition processes, systems and operations, and the implementation and evaluation of changes to support continuous improvement;
• Contribute to the planning and administration of budgets consistent with organization objectives and legal requirements for food and nutrition services departments;
• Appropriately select and use information and industry-specific technologies to enhance individual work performance and the management delivery of food and nutrition services;
• Participate in promoting food and nutrition services and healthy living to support marketing plans and the general well-being of individuals;
• Develop global citizenship and equity knowledge, skills and experiences as they relate to sustainability of resources, individual and community identities, critical social analysis, and enhanced personal and social responsibility;
• Support action for change that promotes social, economic and ecological equity at personal and global levels;
• Participate in interprofessional collaboration.

Centennial College's Biotechnology - Advanced Fast-Track program sees qualified college or university graduates gain direct admission into Year 2 (Semester 3) of the three-year Biotechnology program and receive their technologist advanced diploma in two years (four semesters).

In the Biotechnology - Advanced (Fast Track) courses, you'll learn the scientific principles, techniques and skills to work in industrial microbiology and chemistry. Specialized study in biotechnology applications, biochemistry, microbial genetics, and clinical and environmental microbiology will also be included.

Your opportunity to understand theory and gain technical practice will be combined with many opportunities for you to enhance your experience. Additionally, project work, in consultation with faculty, will help you to further develop your skills in research, laboratory techniques, report writing and presentation.

You'll learn to:

• Perfect your aseptic techniques;
• Isolate, enumerate and identify microorganisms from many types of samples (the human body, water, soil, air, food, and pharmaceutical and cosmetic products);
• Accurately calibrate and use a range of instruments such as pH and BOD meters, gas chromatographs, spectrophotometers (regular/IR/UV), HPLCs, centrifuges, PCR thermocyclers and gel electrophoresis equipment;
• Prepare microbiological media and reagents;
• Culture pathogenic microbes;
• Design and perform advanced microbiology and microbial genetics experiments;
• Use microorganisms to assay pharmaceutical products.

The Environmental Technology (Fast-Track) program is for qualified college or university graduates who wish to gain direct admission into Year 2 (Semester 3) of this three-year advanced diploma program in preparation for the constantly evolving field of environmental technology.

Through courses that will cover the three foundational disciplines of biology, chemistry and civil engineering, and teach you to understand and manage complex environmental problems, this college technology program will provide you with theoretical and practical knowledge for career success.

Courses will feature hands-on experience using technology and equipment in water and soil quality analysis, ecological field sampling, analytical chemistry, hazardous material management, surveying, municipal engineering, AutoCAD drawing and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping. Meanwhile, laboratory practice in water quality testing, groundwater movement, computer aided environmental audits and the chemistry of pollutants will provide you with the skills to analyze and remediate the urban environment.

Program Highlights

• You take part in a program that is the recipient of Centennial College's President's Academic Program Recognition Award for Outstanding Student Satisfaction.
• Opportunities exist for participation in local conservation and restoration activities.
• Graduates can apply to register with the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologist (OACETT).
• After semester four courses are completed, you can write

Drinking Water Operators
If you successfully complete the entry-level course for drinking water operators, you'll meet the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment's entry-level course for drinking water operators.

Co-op Option
The co-op option in this program will provide you with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience while you complete three work terms as an employee in the field. This experience will not only allow you to put classroom learning into practice but it will also provide valuable contacts for your future career.

To participate in programs with optional co-op, you'll typically complete an application process in the second semester of your studies, and if academically qualified, will be admitted to the co-op program. When you graduate, your diploma will highlight the co-op credential.