AUBURN ā The nursing programs at Maineās community colleges plan to double their capacity and add night and weekend classes beginning as soon as this fall, thanks to $5 million in new funding from a public-private partnership between the state and two of Maineās largest health care networks.
The total enrollment in the nursing programs at the stateās seven community colleges is expected to increase to about 480 students per year.
Gov. Janet Mills included $2.5 million for the expansion in the supplemental state budget, which she signed last month. MaineHealth and Northern Light Health matched the stateās funding, bringing the total to $5 million, according to the Maine Community College System.
MCCS President David Daigler said the expanded program is ākey to increasing the number of skilled nurses in Maine.ā
āSome of our nursing programs have hundreds of applicants that are turned away because classes are full,ā Daigler said in statement released to the news media. āAt the same time, demand for nurses is at a crisis level.ā
Beginning in January, Central Maine Community College in Auburn is expected to increase its capacity by nearly two-thirds, bringing the total enrollment to 104 students, from 64. CMCC is also set to add eight nursing faculty positions and three support staff positions.
The additional staffing would allow CMCC to add night and weekend classes, President Betsy Libby said Wednesday.
Because the main issue has been staffing, not space, the expanded program will be able to utilize the existing teaching facilities and nursing labs.
āWhat the additional funding has allowed us to do is to have the faculty to manage the additional students,ā including during clinical rotations at local hospitals, Libby said. āSo weāll be doing what we already do in the lab, but just all day long and in the evening and on weekends ā like, the lab will never, never shut down.
āThe nursing program is a commitment. It is a full-time commitment to be a successful nursing student. And some students, for many reasons, canāt commit to a day program. So this just opens the door for students who need another option.ā
Pat Scherle, the chief nursing officer for St. Maryās Health System in Lewiston, described the additional funding and enrollment expansion as āexcitingā and āwonderful.ā
Like many hospitals and health care centers across the state and nation, St. Maryās Health, which includes St. Maryās Regional Medical Center and St. Maryās dāYouville Pavilion in Lewiston, is dealing with a long-standing shortage of nurses, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scherle said the expansion is expected to āhelp solve the issue, at least for this region in Maine.ā
Every semester, St. Maryās welcomes nursing students from CMCC and other nursing programs.
āThat relationship with the college is strong,ā Scherle said. āAnd itās just exciting news for all of health care in Maine, absolutely.ā
The funding is to be distributed across Maineās community college campuses, including those in Androscoggin and Somerset counties.
Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield expects to increase its nursing enrollment by eight seats this fall and another eight the following semester, bringing the total enrollment to 56. It is also set to hire additional faculty and staff members.
The Maine Community College System also has campuses in Bangor, Calais, Presque Isle, South Portland and Wells.
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