[Gordon A]

No relevant certifications or experience yet.

I'm looking for a job as a home health aide in Las Vegas.

Basically I'm at a crossroads in my life, I just got laid off, my wife is an RN and I like what I see of her career field. Her advice is: get a home health aide job, start getting paid at least a little while seeing what the career is really like; then go for LPN; then apply for RN program. According to her, there's not a whole lot of pay difference between CNA and home health aide to make the CNA certification worth pursuing (that is, since I have no experience and plan on moving forward towards RN as fast as possible anyways. A dollar or two per hour, for a year or so, doesn't seem worth at least 3 weeks and $500. Unless I really need the CNA cert. to get hired.)

So, anyone have any advice for getting hired as a HHA in LV without relevant experience or training? I've come across some opportunities for high school students, I'm 28 so that's no help. I'm ok with starting under $9/hr, but I would really like at least full time, ideally with some opportunity for overtime. If I could find an employer who would offer tuition assistance towards LPN and/or RN that would be perfect.

Added later: I did use the search forum before posting, I found some somewhat relevant threads, but feel free to post links if there's some I overlooked.
To clarify, here are some specific questions:
Does anyone know an employer either hiring HHA's without certification or experience, or offering free/paid CNA classes contingent upon working for them?
Your thoughts on the career plan described above?
General advice on entering the field of nursing?
Your experiences as CNA, LPN, or nursing student in LV?

OOPS:
It appears HHA's are certified. According to my wife there should be some kind of similar position that doesn't require certification. Also, I mentioned $500 and 3 weeks in relation to CNA certification, a few minutes of web surfing led me to think this was the bare minimum, but other sources indicated several times as much.