Funding for Radiologic Technology Program Alleviates a Growing Need
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20-At $8.67 per hour, the filing job Jessica Thompson landed at Sebasticook Valley Hospital, a small “very personable” hospital in the middle of a rural community in Pittsfield, Maine, was certainly not her dream job.
So when she saw that the 25-bed hospital was sponsoring an employee to become a radiologic technician, the 21-year-old leapt at the opportunity. “I didn’t want to file forever,” said Thompson, who started the two-year radiologic technology program at Kennebec Valley Community College last month.
Sebasticook Valley Hospital is paying Thompson’s tuition and supplying her with a part-time job in exchange for two years of service after she graduates if there are positions available at that time. When she gets her first job, Thompson will earn at least $15.58 per hour, the minimum, according to statewide data, and nearly double the amount she is earning as a filing clerk.
The two-year radiologic technology program at Kennebec Valley, in partnership with six Maine hospitals, was instituted last year with money from the U.S. Department of Education and the six hospitals.
On Wednesday, Kennebec Valley was one of 70 community colleges across the country to get some of the $125 million distributed by the U.S. Department of Labor in the form of community-based job training grants designed for employment in high-growth industries including health care, construction and energy.
The $955,831 Kennebec will receive will enable radiologic technology students to expand their education options, according to Kathy Moore, the dean of students. Kennebec also will use the money to expand the number of nursing slots.
Radiologic technology programs have a “huge career ladder,” with a lot of levels after students receive the base, two-year degree, Moore said. These advanced levels include specialties using magnetic resonance imaging, mammography machines, X-rays, ultrasound and computed tomography scans and often involve obtaining certificates.
“We will work with our hospital partners to identify the specific need beyond the two-year degree level,” Moore said.
“We get people trained to the basic radiology technologies level,” said Tom Lizotte, director of marketing and development at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, another partner. “And then we can add training so they are cross-trained on those various modalities.”
The college also will use part of the grant money to create a “health career pathways” program for adults who want to enter a health care field for the first time. The program is also for students who choose to take some college-level science and math classes during high school to help them prepare to attend Kennebec upon graduation.
Thompson attends classes four days a week while she spends 30 hours a week filing for Sebasticook’s health information division. She described the radiologic technology program as “very good.”
Originally a cosmetologist, Thompson recently moved back to Maine with her boyfriend. There were fewer cosmetology clients available, and she found herself looking for a career change that would “be beneficial to somebody else and myself.” And she liked the small town environment of Sebasticook.
“You know everybody that’s working here,” she said about the small-town hospital.
Right on the edge of the north Maine woods with little to the north besides trees, mountains and wilderness areas, the 25-bed Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft has benefited from being a partner in the Kennebec program.
“There’s an explosion of need for those types of workers because there’s a lot more imaging work being done for patient diagnosis,” Lizotte said.
“We’ve realized it’s a lot more cost effective to grow your own home-grown people rather than try to recruit,” he said. “If you have local people that you’ve identified and bring their skill level up, that’s cheaper, more cost-effective to do that and they’re also more likely to stay because they have roots in the area.”
Mayo Regional currently has three employees enrolled in the program. Unlike Sebasticook, which will sponsor students who live in the surrounding area even if they don’t work at the hospital, Mayo Regional sponsors only hospital employees, paying the $8,095 in tuition, fees and books for the two years and a small stipend while the students are in school, with the promise that when they finish the program they will work in the hospital for three or four years. If they leave early they will have to repay the difference, Lizotte said.
“They wanted to move up to a higher-paying job with more professional status,” he said of the hospital’s three participating employees. “We see this as a nice little career ladder for someone who’s already here to move up.”
The starting salary at Mayo Regional for a radiologic technician is about $40,000 a year, he said. “If you’re a medical assistant making $10 to $12 an hour and all of a sudden you get that credential, you can like double your salary pretty quickly,” he added.
There is a shortage of radiologic technicians nationally but especially in Central Maine, where “we haven’t had a program here in a long [time].” said Kennebec’s Moore, who wrote the grant that won this year’s award. It’s not the only program in the state, she said, but it is the only one in the Augusta-Waterville area.
“Health care is expanding due to aging populations and new technologies,” Moore said. “The new technologies that are available now have changed the field. There’s less invasive surgeries. . Sometimes you can have a scan done so they can diagnose you instead of having to.cut you open.”
Other projects across the country receiving funds ranged from health care and construction to advanced manufacturing and energy, according to the Department of Labor’s Web site.
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