Hi,

According to the site I checked for the median salary range for a CNA in Arizona, they state a salary range around $31 thousand dollars a year. The site was http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-CNA-l-Ari¦ if you would like to check.

Suffice it to say CNA's generally make a little better than minimum wage. To enter school to become certified a high school diploma or GED equivalent is expected. The really cool thing about working as a CNA is that once you get on staff at a facility you can see if the health care field is really something that you enjoy. If it is, many hospitals have tuition reimbursement programs that will help pay your tuition if you decide to further your education in health care in some capacity.

My daughter worked at a nursing home for several years and went on to become an LPN. Now she is working at another nursing home that offers tuition reimbursement and trying to obtain her RN through what they call an LPN to RN bridge program.

A CNA can find work anywhere that hires nursing assistants. Some hospitals have chosen to work with an all nursing staff but most still employ CNAs. Many doctors offices use assistants and nursing homes as well as many home health care agencies. Often home health care agencies pay the best.

Health insurance is dependent on the place you work. Doctor's offices generally have the best hours but offer the least health benefits. Hospitals offer the best insurance coverage and have 401K plans and many times provide vision, dental, and pharmaceutical riders that you can get for you and your family.

As far as children go, realize that health care is a 24/7 365 days a year job. Medical care works nights, weekends, and holidays and it depends on what place you work as to how many of these types of things you will have to do. Another thing to keep in mind is that once you are in health care there are many avenues you can choose to learn such as medical technology, telemetry technicians, scrub techs, radiology technicians, and even lab phlebotomists that draw lab work.

There is also nursing and those types of jobs if you decide later to pursue them. CNA's do hard work and work with all body fluids so think twice if you have issues with a weak stomach. This type of work is not for everyone but most find they love working with people and helping them and that is the best reward of all. Good luck and I hope this helped.