The state of Alabama organized its’ own Certified Nursing Assistant, or CNA, program after the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act was passed by Congress in 1987. This is the law that legalizes the right for each state to govern their own healthcare standards in such long term care facilities like nursing homes.
The Alabama Department of Health now approves all CNA training courses offered in the state as well as maintains the registry list for CNAs that are legal to work in these facilities.
If you live in Alabama and want to become a CNA, you must successfully complete a state approved training course. Following the completion of the course, you must sit for, and pass, the CNA State Examination. This exam consists of a writing section composed of multiple choice questions and a skills section in which you’ll be asked to perform certain CNA tasks. Then, you’ll be fingerprinted and submit to a criminal background investigation. Once you’re cleared to work in Alabama as a CNA, you can expect to make around $10 per hour or $21,000 yearly.
The training courses will be different from each other but they must all meet the state set standards. You’ll need 75 hours total in training. These are divided into classroom instruction and hands-on clinical training. If you get your CNA license in another state and move to Alabama, you’ll need to get a job in a long-term healthcare facility before you can apply for reciprocity and be added to the Alabama registry.
You may want to consider some of the following state approved training programs for CNAs in Alabama:
- The Easter Seals Central Alabama is located in Montgomery. They offer a course that’s 5 weeks long of intensive training given by a qualified Registered Nurse. Your tuition in the amount of $1,150 also covers 2 uniforms, 1 pair of shoes, 1 lab coat, a textbook, a stethoscope, a watch, TB test, drug screen, the fee for the CNA exam, and a background investigation.
- Gadsden State Community College located in Gadsden, Alabama, offers a CNA training course that accepts only 10 students each semester. It takes tuition plus fees to cover 2 semesters of 25 credit hours.
- Huntsville, Alabama has J.F. Drake State Technical College. For a fee of $445.00, you can get into a 10 day program that consists of 8 hours each day.
- Tuscaloosa, Alabama residents can attend C.A. Fredd Campus for a program made up of 13 credit hours each semester. The total cost is $1,908.00.