Grant to Address Nursing Shortage Awarded
to Local Group
Photo caption: Pictured here
are members of the Corporate Partners/L-A Health Care Action
Team (HCAT)
which was recently awarded a grant to support its planning
process to create a comprehensive strategy to address the
shortage of health care professionals. Seated in front left
to right are Roger Philippon, assistant dean at USM/L-A,
Nicole Morin-Scribner, HCAT chair and director of employee
relations for Sisters of Charity Health Care Systems, Steve
McFarland, USM Center for Workplace Development, and Dori
Laplant, USM/L-A Nursing Program. Standing are Bonnie Farmer,
assistant professor of nursing at USM/L-A, Ann Weaver, VP
for human resources at Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice,
Diane Dostie, dean of corporate and community services at
Central Maine Community College, and Dale Morrell, director
of education for Sisters of Charity Health Systems. Absent
when photo was taken were Sharon Kuhrt and Tom Reichard from
Central Maine Medical Center.
September 2004
The Center for Continuing Education at the University of
Southern Maine was recently awarded a grant from the
Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF). The purpose of the
grant
is to support the Corporate Partners/L-A Health Care
Action Team’s (HCAT) planning process to create a comprehensive
strategy to address the shortage of health care professionals
- particularly registered nurses - in the Lewiston-Auburn
area by creating career development programs for local
healthcare workers and aspiring high school students.
Recent news and reports have highlighted the nursing shortage
in the United States, and the facts are clear - more nurses
are needed throughout Maine and in Lewiston/Auburn. Androscoggin
County is designated as a primary medical care and mental
health shortage area and as a medically underserved area
by the Bureau of Primary Health Care. As the baby boomers
age, this shortage is expected to grow.
Maine’s nursing education programs cannot accommodate
aspiring prospective nursing students because of capacity
issues including a shortage of qualified nursing faculty.
A majority of the state’s nursing education programs
have reported difficulties hiring part-time faculty. Bonnie
Farmer, coordinator of USM’s nursing program on the
Lewiston-Auburn campus, notes that only one person had responded
to recent advertisements in the Portland Press Herald and
the Lewiston Sun Journal for adjunct faculty to teach in
the nursing program. Sharon Kuhrt of CMMC’s School
of Nursing reports that “hundreds of applications are
received for each class, but only dozens can be accepted.”
With this grant, HCAT hopes to accomplish three goals:
-Support
and encourage existing employees of health care organizations
in achieving higher skill levels through increased
access to college-level education. Current employees will
start on a path to earning a health care related degree
by taking college prep and entry-level college courses on
site
at their employer and finish their degree at either CMCC
or USM/L-A.
-Develop options and programs to increase the number of
master’s level nurses who can teach college courses
in order to reduce the nursing faculty shortage and eliminate
the waiting lists current found at many nurse education programs
in southern Maine.
-Reach out to area high schools and establish a partnership
that will create awareness among high school students about
health care careers and the postsecondary educational opportunities
available to them here in Androscoggin County.
Particular populations we hope to reach are those who have
interest and potential to succeed in college, but never actually
attend, estimated to be about 30% of all high school freshmen. “If
we can engage these students early, keep their aspirations
high, and get them connected to potential health care career
opportunities and college experiences, we have a good chance
of getting
them to the critical plateau of a 2-year college
degree, the minimum requirement for most of the high demand
occupations in the health care industry,” said Steve
McFarland, a member of HCAT.
The Health Care Action Team is a subgroup of Corporate Partners/L-A,
a collaborative organization comprised of local business
leaders, the Chamber, CMCC, and USM/L-A. Corporate Partners
believe that public higher educational institutions play
a key role in building and sustaining a vibrant community.
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