RADIO ADDRESS: Governor Mills: Making it More Affordable to Become a Health Care Worker in Maine

Our hospitals, nursing homes, and other members of the health care sector are one of Maine’s largest employers. They put thousands of Maine people to work in good-paying jobs and they protect the lives and health of Maine people.

But for a long time now, health care facilities across the state have had to grapple with a shortage of workers. This shortage has been over a number of years, but the stress and the length of the pandemic only made that problem worse.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

This week, I announced a new program through my Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan. It’s called Healthcare Training for ME. It provides free and low-cost career training to make it easier and more affordable for people, especially young people, to pursue careers in health care and to move up the career ladder into higher-paying jobs.

We’ve created a website — www.maine.gov/healthcaretrainingforme — that website connects individuals and employers with training curricula from adult ed programs, and community colleges, and the university system. People can then apply for tuition assistance to enroll in training programs, or employers can offer training to their employees, at little or no cost.

This program will help healthcare workers advance their careers, and support workforce training needs of healthcare employers, and it will attract new workers to these fast-growing fields. It is funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act, with support from the Harold Alfond Foundation.

My Administration is committed to supporting our hospitals and nursing homes and other health care employers and to strengthening our health care workforce in the long-run. That’s why we’re also investing in scholarships and student loan relief for people in health care professions; also new recruitment efforts to encourage young people to enter careers in health care; and creating health care career navigators to direct people who are interested in health care fields to the right career path for them.

If you are a health care worker and you want additional training, or if you employ health care workers and want training for your staff, please visit maine.gov/healthcaretrainingforme to see a list of upcoming, free trainings.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

And, for those who celebrate, Happy Easter.