Nursing in Maine (Portland, Lewiston, Bangor: daycare, home, employment)

[telenurse100]

Hi All,

My husband and I (along with 2 children) are set to move to ME in June. We are currently building a home in the Naples area. We have a ton of family there (my husband is from the Brewer area) so we are definitely comfortable and sure that this is the right decision for us. HOWEVER.... I am unsure of the market up there for nurses. Obviously RNS are needed everywhere, with the nursing shortage and all, but I will be going up there in a couple of weeks to secure a job and I just don't want to accept a position in a facility with a bad reputation, low pay, high patient ratios etc.. Being from the south the pay scales are (i hear) alot lower down here than they are up north and I don't want to get suckered into a lower pay scale just because I was making less in VA. Any feedback on this? Also, I need to find a summer program (daycare) for my kids ages 8 and 5. Any recommendations?

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Word of mouth is probably the best way to learn of facilities' reputations.
I have an MSW and moved from AR to NH a few years back. I figured that in the tech/edu corridor of the northeast, pay would be higher. For social workers that proved to be very untrue, unless you go down to MA. NH pay scales were pitiful, I hear VT and ME are similar. And getting licensed in NH was a huge bunch of hoop-jumping.
Again, I'm talking a related but very different profession. AR paid far higher than many, no all, the jobs I checked out in the Nash-Manch-Conc area. You may find that true for your VA payscale also.
One offer I got, at the top of the state pay scale with a huge territory to drive and one BSW counselor to supervise, was about 80% of what I had been making in AR a few years previous. And I was not making an exhorbitant salary there.
A careful search via word of mouth IMO is your best bet for a good payoff.

[Elcarim]

We are looking into the hospitals as a possible realm of employment for DH as well. We have found that at his level of medic certification, some hospitals employ them as techs in the ER. Does anyone know about the hospitals around Belfast and within an hour commute? He will be at EMT-I level and quite possibly (if we can find a fast-track class) a full paramedic when we move. Thanks.

[forest beekeeper]

I do not know.

However I do hear radio ads everyday where they are hiring RNs, and every sort of medical professional that I never even heard of before.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

We are looking into the hospitals as a possible realm of employment for DH as well. We have found that at his level of medic certification, some hospitals employ them as techs in the ER. Does anyone know about the hospitals around Belfast and within an hour commute? He will be at EMT-I level and quite possibly (if we can find a fast-track class) a full paramedic when we move. Thanks.

For what it is worth,my parents have lived in Belfast for forty years after retiring. Their primary care physician is in Belfast and they are well acquaninted with the hospital there.

The hospital has grown quite a lot and appears to be a well functioning medical center. For quite a few years running profitably.

While I have no personal experience with the hospital there, and not much with ANY hospital, my impression is that the Belfast hospital is growing and thriving, as are most of the hospitals in Maine.

From time to time there are news stories about one smaller hospital or another contemplating a merger of administration and resources, but there have been none of those recently. I suspect that most of the smaller hospitals serve as triage and minor surgical/medical entry points and the more serious and specialized procedures are performed at the major medical centers in Bangor and Portland. My mother's cancer surgery was performed at one of the two hospitals in Bangor in 1989, and a son of a friend of mine has just had radical thyroid surgery which was performed in Boston as the resources were not here in Maine.

An hour's commute from Belfast will make it possible to work in Augusta, Waterville, Bangor, Blue Hill, Rockland or Ellsworth. So whatever level of medical training and skill set you have you should be able to find employment in the hospital community. Now, with gasoline prices about $2.69 per gallon your enthusiasm for commuting may be severely limited, and from Belfast the most logical choices are Rockland, Augusta, or Waterville as they are closest to Belfast. Ellsworth and Bangor are about 45 miles, all of which is on primary state roads...Route 1 and 1A. Blue Hill would be about the same distance, but the route to Blue Hill leaves Route 1 and follows Route 15 through the hills and down to the basin that the village sits in. In winter, this can be a very tough and slippery ride.

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by telenurse100

Hi All,

My husband and I (along with 2 children) are set to move to ME in June. We are currently building a home in the Naples area. We have a ton of family there (my husband is from the Brewer area) so we are definitely comfortable and sure that this is the right decision for us. HOWEVER.... I am unsure of the market up there for nurses. Obviously RNS are needed everywhere, with the nursing shortage and all, but I will be going up there in a couple of weeks to secure a job and I just don't want to accept a position in a facility with a bad reputation, low pay, high patient ratios etc.. Being from the south the pay scales are (i hear) alot lower down here than they are up north and I don't want to get suckered into a lower pay scale just because I was making less in VA. Any feedback on this? Also, I need to find a summer program (daycare) for my kids ages 8 and 5. Any recommendations?

Maine RNs earn pretty good pay. One of my best friends is an RN, and she seems happy with the pay scale. There is a VA hospital in Chelsea outside Augusta, Togus VA Medical Center, if you want to continue in the VA system, although it's a bit of a hike from Naples. From Naples your options include hospitals in Bridgton, Portland (2), and Lewiston-Auburn (2). Bridgton is definitely the closest.

Another option that some nurses in southern Maine take is to work three-day weeks in Boston -- usually three 12-hour days -- and spend the rest of the week back home in Maine. They earn Boston metro pay scales and still get to live most of the week in Maine.

[rjones1016]

I just moved to Bangor and am working as an RN at Eastern Maine Medical Center. I have been very impressed with the facility and the pay seems competitive. Good Luck!

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by rjones1016

I just moved to Bangor and am working as an RN at Eastern Maine Medical Center. I have been very impressed with the facility and the pay seems competitive. Good Luck!

Wow cool!

My wife was just at EMMC. She was in the cardiac ward last weekend and this past week. She is home now. The entire staff seemed very professional, courteous and helpful.

My wife's only complaint was that from each test: an echo-cardio-gram, or heart catheter, or whatever, it takes the cardiologists 24 hours before they read the results and brief the nurses with the findings and then order the next round of tests. So each day she was waiting for the nurses to be briefed on the last round of tests, so they could tell her.

I guess the doctors don't like speaking directly to patients, as much as they have done in other hospitals she has been in. The nurses keep patients informed, but wow it does take a long time, for the doctors to look at test results. The nurses were great!

A big rambling hospital with lots of wings, and everyone was very nice.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Beekeeper, I hope your wife is feeling and doing better.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Dwatted Wabbit

Beekeeper, I hope your wife is feeling and doing better.

Well I guess that she is, it has been eight days now since her third Heart Attack. She has been home four days. She is getting around.

We really wish that they could determine the cause of Heart Attacks. Her BP is low, Cholesterol is low, every test they have comes back without any indication of what is causing these. So they put her onto BP and Cholesterol drugs, as they say, the doctors just do not know what else to do.

Thank you for asking. Bless you.