Aroostook County’s four hospitals are in critical need of more radiologic technologists.
To help with this staffing shortage, Eastern Maine Community College stepped in to offer an intensive two-year program from a classroom located on Northern Maine Community College’s Presque Isle campus, with the classes being taught by Bangor faculty and clinical opportunities provided throughout the County, and closer to home, for students from the region.
“I like that we get to explore different modalities as well as different hospitals throughout the area,” stated second-year student, Grace Toupin. “Once we’re actually ready to start a career, we have a good taste of the different people working there and the flow of things. And if we do want to go into a certain modality, we know which hospital we want to go to.”
Lori Ann Ouellette is the northern Maine instructor for the classes held at Northern Maine Community College. She has been with these students since this cohort started last fall.
“I’m kind of like the mom of the group for two years,” Ouellette said.
Eight northern Maine students began the program. That number has dropped to five this semester, with one student transferring to the Bangor campus to complete their degree.
Ouellette, who was the radiology Manager at Cary Medical Center in Caribou for six years, says ongoing staffing needs in the county emphasize the opportunity for students to contribute to and remain part of the local workforce.
“We can only do one cohort at a time,” said Ouellette. “So, there are no year one students now because there is not enough capacity at the hospitals due to their department size and staffing levels to take on a program every year.”
Those staffing issues are set to get worse as the program is in jeopardy of being discontinued due to rules in place by the Department of Education and the organization that accredits the program, the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology.
“The accrediting body, JRCERT, it is their policy not to recognize branch campuses under accreditation of the main program,” said Heather Merrill, Medical Radiography Program Director at EMCC. “If EMCC wanted this program to maintain accreditation, it would have to be a distance program, and even with this change, EMCC couldn’t deliver the program the way they do now. Students would have to learn from home.”
This change would take away the camaraderie and cooperation the students share in the classroom setting.
“In the group setting, students can talk over material as most everything is foreign to them,” Merrill stated. “Learning something new without visual and hands on opportunities makes it hard.”
While EMCC is happy to provide the opportunity for hybrid instruction, it can’t provide for any other students for the foreseeable future, Merrill said.
Some students in the future could do their clinicals locally, but still have to travel more than 100 miles, and in the case of students from the St. John Valley, 200 miles each way to attend classes in Bangor.
“My sister is a family nurse practitioner, and she told me if I was actually serious about working in radiology I should go job shadow to see what it was like,” second-year student Natalie Martin said. “If the program was down in Bangor, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to do it financially.”
The last time this program was offered at NMCC, back in 2006, six students graduated with associate science in medical radiography degrees. All six stayed in the area and found jobs at local hospitals, helping meet a major staffing need for County hospitals.
Some are still working locally 20 years later, Merrill said, which was the goal of the program: to provide training closer to where students live, and give them exposure to local hospitals to find the right fit.
“At a time when rural hospitals across the country are faced with staffing shortages and financial challenges, it is difficult to see a program that works for our hospitals, our patients and our young people come to an end because of a rule that just doesn’t make sense,” said Kris Doody, a registered nurse and CEO of Cary Medical Center.
“It is our hope that by shedding a light on this issue, the Department of Education and JRCERT can examine their accreditation requirements and help people learn where they live and assist with the workforce needs in rural Maine,” Doody said.
The students in this cohort will graduate this spring, and all of them plan to practice in Aroostook County. All will start their new careers earning anywhere from $21 to $28 dollars per hour while providing care to their families and neighbors.
“This experience has given me more confidence and has helped confirm this is a job I would like to do,” student Rochelle Chasse said.
“It is disappointing the community college can’t help the northern Maine community,” Ouellette said. “The need is here. The students are here. The jobs are here. But we can’t teach them here.”
