HCA to CNA Bridge Near Olympia, WA: 40-Hour Weekday and Weekend Options

An Olympia Home Care Aide with an active Washington HCA credential and a high school diploma or GED can become a Nursing Assistant-Certified (NA-C) through a bridge program instead of repeating the 108-hour traditional course. Huduma CNA Programs in Federal Way runs the bridge as 40 clock hours, delivered either across 5 consecutive weekdays or across about 2.5 weekends, for $800 tuition plus about $105 in books and supplies. Add the state's $155 two-part exam and the DOH application fee (per the current fee schedule) for the full cost. The tradeoff for a Thurston County resident is distance: Federal Way is roughly 40 miles north on I-5 (approximate), which is why the weekend pattern and the single-week pattern both exist.

Why an Olympia HCA should consider the bridge

Thurston County's care economy leans heavily on home care agencies and licensed adult family homes, and a large share of the people doing that work hold the 75-hour DSHS Home Care Aide credential. Moving to NA-C changes three things:

• Employers. Providence St. Peter Hospital and MultiCare Capital Medical Center, both on Olympia's east side, hire nursing assistants, not HCAs. Skilled nursing facilities in Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater also hire NA-Cs first.
• Scope. An NA-C works under a licensed nurse in facility settings and can add a medication assistant endorsement later; an HCA works in community settings under nurse delegation.
• Pay. Indeed job-posting data (August 2026) shows a Washington nursing assistant average of about $23.62 per hour, with shift differentials of roughly $1.50 to $4 per hour at facilities. HCA rates in home care generally sit lower. All figures are approximate.

The state recognizes the overlap: the DOH describes a 24-hour bridge for HCAs, and approved programs may run longer. Huduma's 40 hours are 36 instructional hours (17 theory, 13 lab, 6 clinical) plus 4 hours of mock testing before the real skills exam. The reasoning behind the extra hours is in understanding the HCA to CNA bridge route.

Weekday or weekend: which pattern fits an Olympia commute

Both bridge patterns require the same 5 round trips. The difference is whether those trips fall on work days or on weekends, and whether you can drive them. A weekday cohort starts and ends at fixed times each day, so an Olympia driver leaving before the I-5 peak through Lakewood and Tacoma generally has a predictable trip; the return through Tacoma in the afternoon is the slower direction. A weekend cohort avoids most of that traffic.

Getting from Olympia to Federal Way

Times are approximate and based on Intercity Transit and Sound Transit published timetables as of September 2026.

• Driving. I-5 north the whole way, exiting at S 320th Street. Roughly 40 miles; typically 45 minutes to over an hour depending on the time of day and the Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Tacoma segments. Federal Way Downtown Station has a large parking garage next to the school.
• Weekday transit. Intercity Transit route 600 (weekdays only, and zero-fare under the agency's program extended through 2028) runs Olympia Transit Center to Lakewood Station in about 31 minutes on the earliest trip. From Lakewood Station, Sound Transit's 574 reaches Federal Way Downtown Station in about 41 minutes, with buses about every 15 minutes in the morning and midday. Total, with the transfer, is around 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes each way.
• Weekend transit. Route 600 does not run on weekends, so a weekend cohort from Olympia is a driving or carpool plan. Sound Transit's 574 does run weekends from Lakewood Station, so some students drive to Lakewood, park in the station's garage, and ride the rest.

For a weekday cohort without a car, the 574 from Lakewood Station makes the trip workable but long; check the current 600 timetable against the class start time before enrolling. General transit guidance for the school is in getting to CNA class in Federal Way by bus, light rail, or car.

What the 40 hours cover

An HCA arrives already competent in personal care, so the bridge spends its lab time on what facilities add: mechanical lifts, catheter care measurement, documentation on facility forms, and the precise sequence the Part 1 evaluator watches for. The clinical block places you on a nursing unit rather than in a client's home. What that lab time looks like day to day is described in inside the CNA skills lab.

Cost, from Olympia, start to finish

The exam and DOH costs are the same for every Washington program. What differs is tuition, whether Part 1 is given on site or booked through WABON online scheduling, and the travel. Thurston County HCAs employed by an agency should ask whether the employer reimburses tuition on completion; many do for a credential that expands what the worker can do.

Eligibility and the E6 route

The bridge is Washington's alternative program route, and its graduates apply to the DOH under eligibility route E6 rather than E1. You need:

1. An active Washington HCA credential, which the DOH Provider Credential Search must show as current, not expired or pending.
2. A high school diploma or GED.
3. A background check before the clinical block.
4. English proficiency sufficient for instruction and for the knowledge test, which is given in English with an oral option.

If your HCA credential has lapsed, renew it first; the bridge cannot substitute for an expired HCA. The full route list, E1 through E9, is explained in Washington CNA eligibility routes E1 to E9.

After the bridge: the exam and the Olympia job market

Part 1, the skills test, is administered by the program on site for $100. Once the pass is recorded, you register on Credentia's site for the $55 online knowledge test; Olympia candidates can take it at a testing location or in the online proctored format. After both passes, the DOH application goes in, and an NA-C appears on the registry when it is issued. With the credential active, an Olympia HCA can apply to Providence St. Peter, MultiCare Capital Medical Center, and the skilled nursing facilities that previously would not consider an HCA. Employer detail is in CNA jobs in Olympia, WA.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an HCA to CNA bridge in Olympia itself? Some programs in Thurston County may offer a bridge; check each against the WABON approved-program list and confirm hours, price, and whether the skills test is given on site. The 40-hour option at Huduma CNA Programs is in Federal Way, about 40 miles north.

How many trips to Federal Way does the bridge require? Five: either five weekdays in one week, or two full weekends plus part of a third.

Can I take the bridge on transit from Olympia? On weekdays, yes: Intercity Transit route 600 to Lakewood Station, then Sound Transit 574 to Federal Way Downtown, roughly 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes each way. Route 600 does not run weekends.

Does the bridge require clinical hours? Yes, 6 hours in a licensed nursing facility, after a background check.

Do I keep my HCA credential after becoming an NA-C? The NA-C is a separate DOH credential. Whether to maintain both is your choice; some HCAs let the HCA lapse once they are working as an NA-C, others keep it for home care clients.

What if I fail the skills test? Washington programs must allow at least four attempts. The mock testing block exists to make the first attempt the last one.

Details and current cohort dates are on the HCA to CNA bridge program page and the schedules page.