Rob Poindexter, WABI, October 11, 2010 Bangor - Nurses and hospital administration at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor continue to clash over a new contract. Nurses, some on their lunch break, took to the streets joined by other members of the Maine State Nurses Association, for an informational picket in front of the hospital on Monday. Their number one complaint is staffing levels, which the nurses say has been an issue for years. They say current staffing levels cause patient care to suffer. Pat Martin has been a nurse at EMMC since 1974. This is the 4th time she's picketed during contract negotiations in her career. ... Nurses

Bangor Daily News, October 10, 2010 Bangor - Off-duty registered nurses covered by the union contract at Eastern Maine Medical Center picketed the hospital Monday. The purpose of the demonstration was “informational,” according to Vanessa Sylvester of the Maine State Nurses Association, intended to raise public awareness of ongoing contract negotiations between the nurses and the hospital administration. Hospital officials said patient care and other operations at EMMC will not be affected by the picketing. Negotiations have been under way since July. The nurses’ three-year contract expired at the end of September ... Nurses

WABI-TV5, September 27, 2010 With a deadline approaching, contract negotiations are at a stand still for nurses in Bangor, Ellsworth and Presque Isle. Today, nurses from Eastern Maine Medical Center, Maine Coast Memorial Hospital and the Aroostook Medical Center stood outside EMMC in Bangor to protest. They want increased wages and better health care coverage. However, one of the major concerns for these folks is that they want more nurses on staff to help care for patients. ... Contract

Audry Amann, WCSH6, September 27, 2010 Bangor - The deadline for a new contract between nurses and Eastern Maine Medical Center is coming up in just a few days. Hosptial officials tell News Center that areas of disagreement lay in wages, benefits and mandated ratios between staff and patients. Monday, nurses gathered outside EMMC to advocate for - what they're calling - patient safety and justice for nurses. The nurses say they're concerned with a shortage in staffing and that they are being mandated to work overtime in some cases because of that shortage. ... Nurses

Josie Huang, Maine Public Broadcasting Network, May 21, 2010 Nursing is often touted as a recession-proof job, but even nurses have not been spared by the economy. Hospitals are laying off nurses and cutting back on hiring. That has nursing executives in Maine worrying what will happen when the economy rebounds. After Serena Howes graduated from nursing school out of state, she moved back to Maine with her daughter, convinced she would find a job in no time. ... Jobs

Catherine Pegram, WABI, October 2, 2009 Some nurses at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor are speaking out against a plan to cut two positions in the children's cancer unit. Hospital officials say it's a move to save money. Even though the two nurses are getting new jobs, union representatives say it still amounts to layoffs that are taking away from patient care. Barbara Lambarida, a labor representative with Maine State Nurses Association, says "When you're dealing with a disease such as cancer, more so when it's a child involved, the child and the family go through very difficult times emotionally and that's on-going." ... Nurses

Christopher Smith, Bangor Daily News, October 2, 2009 Bangor - Representatives from the labor union representing two Eastern Maine Medical Center nurses who will be reassigned next week took their dispute public Friday in an effort to overturn a decision they say isn’t good for pediatric cancer patients. Cokie Giles, an EMMC nurse and president of the Maine State Nurses Association, told reporters that the hospital’s decision to switch the location of outpatient pediatric oncology services, such as chemotherapy, would deprive young patients of the care they are used to from nurses they know and enjoy. ... Union

Bangor Daily News, September 5, 2007 Bangor - About 30 unionized
registered nurses employed by Eastern Maine Medical Center demonstrated
outside the Bangor hospital Tuesday morning to draw attention to what
they say is chronic understaffing on most patient units. Hospital
officials on Tuesday declined to discuss the staffing issue in detail,
but said that nursing care units are staffed appropriately and that
nurse employees have adequate input in the matter. The issue is a
cornerstone of contract negotiations, which are scheduled to take place
today, tomorrow and Friday. ... EMMC

Maureen Caristi, RNC, Bangor Daily News, May 4, 2007 You’re in the hospital, you’re in pain. Will someone be there for you when you need help? Unfortunately, the answer might be no for far too many Maine patients. Patient care standards today are rapidly eroding. One major reason is the often unbearable conditions for registered nurses who are a patient’s primary lifeline and advocate. Hospitals force them to juggle too many patients at one time, endangering patients and overwhelming caregivers. All too often, this means that RNs don’t have the time to assess and properly care for any of their patients, particularly since hospital patients today are much sicker and need more complex medical treatments than in the past. ... Bill

Linda C. Smith, Class Notes, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, Fall 2006
Joseph Niemczura completed his term as president of American Nurses Association Maine and took a teaching position at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Chris Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, October 3, 2006 The fast-growing California Nurses Association said Monday that approximately 1,500 RNs in Maine have agreed to join its ranks. The Oakland-based union said the Maine State Nurses Association is the latest group to affiliate with the CNA/National Nurses Organizing Committee. With the addition of the Maine association's roughly 1,500 RNs, CNA now boasts more than 70,000 registered-nurse members in 44 states, the vast majority of them here in California. Maureen Caristi, RN, president of the Maine State nurses, said in the Oct. 2 statement that the affiliation increases the group's "power to defend and advance the nursing profession and safe, quality health care for all." ... Maine

Join With 70,000 RNs From Coast to Coast. California Nurses Association, October 2, 2006 Oakland - The Maine State Nurses Association has voted to affiliate with the nation's premier organization of direct-care registered nurses, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. MSNA members made the decision in their convention late Friday in Bar Harbor. With MSNA, CNA/NNOC now comprises over 70,000 RNs in 44 states, and is internationally known for winning the first minimum nurse-to-patient nurse ratios in the US, achieving unprecedented workplace improvements for nurses and patients, and growing influence in the campaign to transform healthcare. ... Maine<

Bangor Daily News, May 27, 2006

East Pittston - Alan A. Philbrook, 57, died peacefully Wednesday, May 24, 2006, at home. He was born July 12, 1948, in Dover-Foxcroft, the son of Glenn and Mary Strout Philbrook of Milo. He grew up in Waterbury, Conn., with frequent visits to Maine, to build and vacation in the family camp on Schoodic Lake in Piscataquis County. Alan was an Eagle Scout, the skills of which he used forever after in everyday living. Alan graduated from New York Maritime College in Fort Schuyler, NY, and had multiple careers in marine engineering, teaching and home building while raising a family, and back to merchant marine engineering when his children were grown. ... Alan

Lincoln County News, December 15, 2005

Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta always sets high standards for patient satisfaction. One of the top areas, according to the most recent Avatar patient satisfaction survey scores, is in nursing. As a matter of fact, Miles’ ICU nurses earned the highest score in the Avatar system.

“Our ICU nurses are phenomenal,” said VP of Nursing Cindy Juchnik. “Not only has the past year been really busy with an increase in ICU patients, but our ICU nurses have also dealt with a management turnover. To get this kind of recognition, especially after a year like that, is wonderful.” ... Miles

2005 has brought several changes for nurses in Maine. Jake Brown, advance for Nurses, December 5, 2005

... The Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA), the largest nursing group in Maine, plans to advance a bill to require mandatory numerical nurse staffing levels in hospitals ... That bill would mandate that RNs providing direct care on a general or med/surg floor have no more than four patients. In critical or intensive care areas, they would have no more than two patients under their watch, according to Patricia Philbrook, RN,C, NP, executive director of the MSNA. ... From staffing ratios