Another Northern Light hospital eliminates positions

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital in Presque Isle has eliminated several positions to cut costs, its president said.

It is the only one of Aroostook County’s four hospitals in the Northern Light Health System.

Statewide, Northern Light continues to scale back services and close practices due to financial, staffing and other instability that started during the pandemic. Aroostook County has seen some of that, including closures of Fort Kent’s Northern Maine Medical Center obstetrics unit, the Gardiner Health Care facility in Houlton and the Mars Hill Health Center .

The Northern Light Health System includes 10 hospitals and more than 100 health care sites in Maine, according to Northern Light data .

Now, after position cuts in Presque Isle, people will no longer be assisted by desk or customer service staff at some Gould facilities. The hospital will not close any practices or departments, said Jay Reynolds, M.D., hospital president.

“The only change patients may notice is there will no longer be someone to greet them at the hospital’s Pinkham entrance or the lobby at North Street. We will also no longer have a guest relations person located in the waiting room of Day Surgery,” Reynolds said. “We will continue to staff the main entrance of the hospital.”

Reynolds would not specify how many positions were cut, but said several of them were due to retirements and attrition.

In addition to several services and specialty clinics in Presque Isle, Northern Light A.R. Gould operates a continuing care facility in Mars Hill, a primary care and walk-in clinic in Caribou and a primary care center in Fort Fairfield.

All facilities will remain open, although some people working at the sites may be affected, said Karen Gonya, communications director.

A.R. Gould has 987 employees across all sites, Gonya said.

Hospital leaders spoke with affected staff last week and urged them to consider open positions across the Northern Light system, Reynolds said.

The hospital was forced to cut staff because of continuing economic struggles, the same ones faced by health care entities across the country, he said. Many of those reared up during the pandemic, including staff shortages, increased costs and reduced reimbursement from commercial and government insurance providers.

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic the health sector has continued to struggle with both labor shortages and increased costs of supplies, services and labor, particularly traveling employees,” Reynolds said.

The hospital has worked to renegotiate supply chain contracts and revamp scheduling to help address the challenges.

He did not say whether any nurses were affected.

Staff of the Maine State Nurses Union/National Nurses Organizing Committee, which represents about 150 nurses at the Presque Isle hospital, said they were not aware of any nursing positions involved but are monitoring the situation.

Nurses at A.R. Gould ratified a new contract last year after demanding annual pay increases, improvements in health and safety such as reducing workplace violence, and efforts to increase and retain staff.

“We are doing our best to be transparent with our team and our community,” Reynolds said. “The services that A.R. Gould has offered for years to our communities will continue.”