Organization offering tuition-free nursing training begins to see results April 8, 2021 at 7:39 am Nurse Karen Hayes administers care to a patient in the acute care COVID-19 unit at Harborview Medical Center on May 7, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images) Because of COVID and other reasons, there is a shortage of certified nursing assistants to help people who need assistance in coping with disease and other medical needs. That’s why Chris Hedrick set up a company called Next Step. The idea is to use online learning plus limited classroom teaching to train certified nursing assistants. The Washington state version of the program began a few weeks ago and Hedrick joined Seattle’s Morning News to give an update on their progress.