Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston will offer nursing students financial assistance through a new tuition reimbursement program, the health system said Nov. 1.
The health system will cover up to $22,500 in tuition costs for two- and four-year nursing students at its affiliated medical school, Lewiston-based Maine College of Health Professionals. Eligible nursing students will pledge to work at the system after graduation for the same number of years they receive financial support from the health system.
"By doing this we sort of lock in our workforce for 2023 and '24. And if we keep doing it every year, we get a little bit of a sense of security so that we can rely less on outside, very expensive labor that we get from travel companies," Kris Chaisson, BSN, RN, the health system's chief nursing officer, told Maine Public.