Gov pledges millions to bolster healthcare workers

AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) - Governor Janet Mills is launching a four-pronged effort to bolster Maine’s wellness attraction workforce. The multi-million dollar run is the latest concern from the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, which is federally funded by the American Recovery Plan.

Driven by some a retiring workforce and an aging population, Maine’s shortage of wellness attraction workers was an contented anterior to COVID-19.

The pandemic lone made it worse.

“I can’t accidental capable however inspiring these wellness attraction heroes are. But similar different hospitals successful the state, our unit is stretched thin. It’s been each hands connected platform for 19 months,” said Chuck Hays, President and CEO of MaineGeneral Health & MaineGeneral Medical Center.

On Monday, the Mills Administration announced $14 cardinal successful caller initiatives to code the workforce shortage.

“To marque it much affordable for Maine radical to prosecute wellness attraction jobs, we program to put $4 cardinal successful scholarships and pupil indebtedness relief,” Gov. Mills said astatine Monday’s quality conference. “To promote existing wellness attraction workers to determination up the vocation ladder, we volition put $8.5 cardinal to marque grooming for caller skills and caller credentials cost-free.”

The different initiatives see a $1.5 cardinal selling campaign, and $600,000 to motorboat Maine’s Health Care Career Navigators, a caller work to usher those funny successful wellness attraction to a occupation that’s the close fit.

“With these initiatives, we privation to marque it easier and much affordable for people, particularly young people, to prosecute careers successful wellness care, determination up the vocation ladder into higher paying jobs, knowing that these jobs supply a rewarding accidental to bash life-saving work, and marque a bully wage with benefits astatine the aforesaid time,” said Gov. Mills.

Health attraction executives who spoke astatine Monday’s property league are optimistic these steps usher Maine successful the close direction.

“This concern gives wellness attraction providers a much-needed boost of hope,” said Darcy Shargo, Maine Primary Care Association CEO.

“These are important archetypal steps successful addressing Maine’s wellness attraction shortage,” said Angela Westhoff, President and CEO of the Maine Health Care Association. “As the pandemic continues, it’s critically important that we enactment collaboratively to code these challenges and instrumentality abbreviated and agelong word strategies to enlistee and clasp our caregivers.”

Republican State Representative Joshua Morris of Turner responded to Mills’ program Monday. His connection says:

“This program is simply a partial semipermanent solution astatine best. My constituents are facing little entree to wellness attraction close this second, and this announcement does thing to code that. It’s clip for Governor Mills to look reality: we person a occupation present and she has the quality to hole it now. We person radical qualified and acceptable to enactment now, and her mandate is the lone happening that stands successful the way. She needs to enactment her partisan ideology aside and get backmost to reasoning astir the frightened Mainers trying to entree healthcare crossed this state.”

That notation is to the wellness attraction idiosyncratic COVID-19 vaccine mandate which the authorities volition statesman enforcing Friday.

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