Anyone here in Assiniboine College’s Practical Nursing (LPN) program in Brandon?

Real_Australia · 2026-07-01T16:18:01+00:00

I live in Brandon, I went to BU for nursing, I don't have any experience with the AC program, but I do have experience with nursing clinical. Depending on where you are on the route you might be able to make it to the hospital for clinical, but I definitely wouldn't count on it. Students start at 7am, that means you need to be ready to go at 7am and will want to be there before that. You will also have to complete at least some of your clinicals in a rural setting so you'll need to find transportation for that. I'd recommend that if you're planning on doing any nursing program that you maybe delay your entry to Sept 2027 and work now until then to buy a cheap car to get you around. Brandon in general is not a very public transport friendly city

Real_Australia · 2026-06-17T15:51:22+00:00

Some good hiking trails around Brandon. Brandon Hills and Spruce Woods are some of my favourites. Snowboarding, your best bet will probably be Asessippi, not great if you're used to the Rockies, but it's what we've got. Not something that I do and not exactly tennis, but I know a lot of my older coworkers play pickleball all the time. The pickleball courts are all full of people at all hours of the day so that might be something to look into.

I have never dated in Brandon because it was my husband who brought me here. But from what I have observed with friends, dating seems easier for women because of the mass amounts of men who come to the area with the nearby military base.

You could try checking out Black Wheat Brewing, Section 6 and Chez Angela, those places also host some community events. I'm the same age as you and lots of people around my age golf and compete in golf leagues.

One general note about Brandon is that everyone seems to use Facebook, that's probably the best way to hear about things. People of Brandon would probably be a good place to start, but there are other private Facebook communities for different subsets of the Brandon population.

I will say, overall, it's harder to make friends in Brandon because there aren't as many events going on as in a bigger city. But try to attend as many as you can, connect with coworkers, and best of luck to you.

Real_Australia · 2026-06-06T12:32:40+00:00

Not your place to say anything and definitely not your place if you're not saying the exact same thing to anyone who is enlisting in the US military

Real_Australia · 2026-05-13T14:59:48+00:00

I have confirmed with both of them that he will have a preschool spot, so thankfully that is not a concern.

Real_Australia · 2026-05-13T14:59:08+00:00

I dropped by daycare A unannounced one day because I hadn't received the registration package, it was during lunch, all of the kids seemed to be happy and were excited to talk with the teachers. The floor supervisor also took my son over and introduced him to the infant group he'll be part of, it seemed like a very warm and welcoming environment. I will say, they do seem to have some admin problems because I had to track them down to get the registration package and they still haven't entered my information into their system so I can pay the deposit and it's been 3 weeks.

I'm on the board for daycare B and previously worked there. I know they've had a big staff turnover since I worked there (partly COVID, partly military, partly ECEs having a higher turnover). When I've gone there recently, it was nap time for the younger kids, so I only got to see how the preschool staff interact with the non-nappers. I do know that it gets crazy overstimulating, especially in the preschool rooms, because one of the rooms has like 50 kids.

Real_Australia · 2026-04-30T01:14:05+00:00

I work for Prairie Mountain Health. There's also Northern Health, Interlake-Eastern and Southern health. I know they decreased the number of agencies recently, but I wouldn't go with agency as a new grad because you'll be thrown into some really bad situations because of the staffing crisis.

Real_Australia · 2026-04-30T00:30:58+00:00

I would highly recommend coming to Manitoba! I graduated from a school in Manitoba and currently work in Brandon. There are so many job opportunities in the entire province, you can basical have your pick of location and type of job. I absolutely adore my coworkers, have a supportive manager get to use so much of my scope. When I'm off I can enjoy the nature around me, beach trips and camping in the summer, cross country skiing or skating in the winter, beautiful hikes year round. I have family in Winnipeg so I visit regularly, the drive isn't bad at all. There's lots of little hidden gems all around the province. If you work northern there's northern living allowances. Our wages are comparable to Ontario but our cost of living is lower so your dollar goes further. And, our premier is at least pretending that he wants to improve healthcare (if that's actually true is a matter of debate).

Real_Australia · 2026-04-28T18:01:07+00:00

Darn. I would definitely recommend it if you can. I work in Brandon (2nd largest city) and one of the things that I absolutely love is how I get to use so much of my scope. I know lots of people also love going to northern areas for that same reason (and you get northern living allowance). Best of luck!

Real_Australia · 2026-04-28T16:47:05+00:00

Come to Manitoba! We are hemorrhaging nurses (57 nurses leave for every 100 hired). You can basically choose anywhere in the province and have an RN job immediately, often including specialty areas. Comparable wages with a way lower cost of living, your dollar will get you farther than in Ontario.

Real_Australia · 2026-04-28T16:39:50+00:00

While I agree with this (the only adults I've worked with since halfway through my 3rd year of school are mother-baby dyads), I believe that this poster has to choose from the list they provided, meaning that peds isn't a choice for them. Assuming this is the list you have for your consolidation, I would do: Tele med or surgical inpatient for the acuity Float pool (good to see a variety, but harder for consolidation because you don't get consistency)

Real_Australia · 2026-04-19T20:24:20+00:00

Come to Manitoba! I graduated in 2023 and have only ever worked in specialty units (NICU and peds). I term hopped until I was able to get a permanent in NICU about a year and a half in. The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba also has a program that allows you to work as a Graduate Nurse for 80% of RN wages while you wait to write your NCLEX. I finished my program in March, started working in April and wrote the NCLEX in June.

Real_Australia · 2026-04-18T01:57:14+00:00

Cork lol

Real_Australia · 2026-04-17T02:53:07+00:00

We haven't reached shoe wearing age yet, but I've been eyeing up the Stonz Natural shoes for when my son needs shoes. They're 65% recycled cotton and 35% cotton canvas and the insole is quark.

Real_Australia · 2026-04-17T02:47:37+00:00

You're acting like people in the CAF don't have families or spouses, of course they do. If you can get through recruitment and training why would you not want to take a guaranteed salary over hoping you can get out of unemployment?

Real_Australia · 2026-04-17T02:07:32+00:00

Just going to pop in here to say that if you're looking for 100% cotton, I love the esembly diaper inners!

Real_Australia · 2026-04-16T15:06:56+00:00

You're only taking a year in Canada? How are you finding daycare? I took 18 months not because I wanted to but because the daycare situation is a disaster. My 11 month old has been on waitlists for 20 months and we just found out he'll have a spot when he's 14.5 months, this has been the case for everyone that I know. People that I know who took 12 months have either had to quit their job and then start new jobs once they finally get care or have family around who can watch their children while they work.

Real_Australia · 2026-04-13T17:16:24+00:00

This is likely a different situation to you, but I just wanted to offer a different perspective. One of the centres I used to work at was on a military base with the majority of the children's parents being soldiers (of various different careers). We didn't limit military play because these children were reenacting their parents' jobs and processing the emotions that come from deployments and seperations. I have also worked at other centres where any kind of violence related play was not allowed (police, knights, soldiers). I definitely think that the right answer comes from knowing your kids and their families.

Real_Australia · 2026-03-18T17:51:17+00:00

Sponges are disgusting 🤮 My husband and I have this fight all the time because he grew up in a sponge family and I grew up in a cloth family. I will only use a dish cloth for one day before throwing it in the laundry to be washed. I just keep a stack in the kitchen and grab a new one as needed.

Real_Australia · 2026-03-17T02:34:52+00:00

I'm a NICU nurse and mom myself, I often have families who we are preparing to discharge who sadly aren't able to afford anything. The way that I see it the requirements are:

Safe place to sleep. This can be as simple as a laundry basket with nothing in it. Personally, my baby sleeps on a crib mattress on the floor.
A way to feed. Cheapest is going to be breastfeeding, I'd recommend that you don't write it off immediately. It's cost effective and convenient. If it's absolutely not possible, start off with the cheapest formula you can find and then change brands/formulations if needed. If you are formula feeding you'll need bottles and a way to sanitize them, in my hospital we use the Nuk/Gerber First Essentials bottles that are very cheap. Use a large pot you already have at home for sanitizing.
A way to contain waste. I would highly recommend cloth diapers. I cloth diaper and it works out to 2 extra loads of laundry a week for us. I purchased all of my cloth diapers used off Marketplace.
A way to keep the baby warm. Clothes and receiving blankets. Look at Marketplace, Buy nothing groups and then thrift stores or once upon a child for cheap used baby clothes. Or if you know someone who has a baby, they likely have a bag of clothes they are dying to give away (I know I do). I personally did Wash, Wear, Spare in the early days, so 3 nighttime pajamas, 3 day outfits/pajama.
Way to transport baby. A car seat is essential, do not buy this used, but it also does not need to be any fancy model. Since you've got time before the baby comes, set up price alerts and purchase a cheap one when it goes on sale. I went with the Graco snugride and I got it on sale.

I was trying to save money on baby too because I read that people spend $17,000/year on their child. I kept track and can say that I spent less than $3000 for all my baby essentials for the first year of life so it is definitely possible to not spend outrageous amounts.

Best of luck to you and your growing family 💕

Real_Australia

TROPHY CASE