It’s no secret that there is a shortage of nurses in Maine.
The aging Maine population coupled with more nurses nearing retirement threatens to turn the shortage into a crisis in the years ahead. The Maine Department of Labor projects that there will be 944 job openings for registered nurses annually ― as in each year ― through 2026.
Southern Maine Community College’s nursing program is helping fill the gap. SMCC has about 200 nursing students who study at our South Portland Campus, our Midcoast Campus at Brunswick Landing and the campus of York County Community College. Sixty-six of those students, including a dozen from our Midcoast Campus nursing program, received their Associate in Science degrees in nursing at our 2019 commencement in May.
All of the Midcoast Campus graduates have already passed their national nursing board exams, said Elizabeth Bailey, the lead faculty member of Midcoast Campus nursing program.  Eleven of the 12 have already landed jobs as registered nurses, with the 12th deciding to take some time off before entering the workforce. Program-wide, SMCC nursing graduates enjoyed a NCLEX examination pass rate of nearly 93 percent in 2018.
Three of the Midcoast graduates are working in intensive care units, one works in pediatrics, and the others are in general medical-surgical locations. Employers include Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, St.  Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine Medical Center in Portland, LincolnHealth-Miles Campus (formerly Miles Memorial Hospital) in Damariscotta, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, N.H.
Among the graduates is Kim Jordan, who is working as a cardiac intensive care unit nurse at Maine Medical Center caring for people with serious or acute heart problems.
Kim earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Maine in 2014 before deciding that nursing was her true calling.  So she enrolled in SMCC’s nursing program and received her degree in May.
“I like nursing because you’re helping people. You get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with patients and make a difference,” Kim said. “It’s been a pretty cool thing to transition from being a student to working hands-on with patients.”
Nursing students on our Midcoast Campus are a tight-knit community who spend a lot of time together in the classroom and in clinical settings. The 2019 class marks the fourth graduating class of nursing students from the Midcoast Campus.
“This has been an exceptional group of dedicated, hard-working students who entered our program with a goal of delivering excellent and compassionate nursing care,” Bailey said. “It is a pleasure to welcome them into the registered nurse profession. “
According to the Maine Department of Labor’s Job Outlook through 2026, there will be 163 nurse openings in Maine each year due to increased demand. As the baby boomer population continues to age, demand will grow for nurses and other health care services.
But the growth in demand tells only part of the story. The Department of Labor predicts there will be another 781 nurse openings every year due to current nurses retiring or exiting the profession. Over half of the RNs in Maine are 50 or older.
SMCC and graduates like Kim Jordan are helping meet the need.  Kim this fall will begin pursuing her nursing bachelor’s degree online through the University of Maine at Fort Kent while working at Maine Medical Center. A bachelor’s degree should open up new opportunities for her in the years ahead.
For Kim and our other nursing graduates, the future is bright.

Joe Cassidy is the president of Southern Maine Community College.