PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Nearly half of Northern Maine General’s clients and four staff members will transition to the Central Aroostook Association next month.
Management at the Caribou-based Northern Maine General announced last month it would close some of its programs due to financial woes, affecting 154 clients and 12 professional staff.
“The transition will be seamless from there to here,” Jamie Guerette, Central Aroostook Association director of people and engagement, said Friday. “The collaboration assures that no one will go without services.”
The working relationship between the Aroostook County nonprofit providers assures there is no lapse in services for people in NMGs outpatient and case management programs, she said. The Central Aroostook Association is based in Presque Isle.
Cost-cutting measures and staff recruitment efforts were not enough to save Northern Maine General’s programs, CEO Michelle Raymond said in a January interview.
At the time, Raymond said they took many other steps before making the “heartwrenching” decision to close and she vowed to do everything possible to ensure a smooth transition for those affected.
Since the beginning of the year Raymond has been reaching out to providers in the area to help with the transition.
Her connection with Central Aroostook Association Executive Director Martin Puckett led to this collaboration, association chief operating officer Carl Michaud said.
The organization was founded by a group of parents more than 60 years ago and serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The association hired several Northern Maine General staff, including two case managers, a case management supervisor and another employee who will work as an education technician.
Starting on April 1, the association will also manage 75 Northern Maine General clients, and some will be working with their former caseworker, Guerette said.
The BDN was unable to reach Raymond on Friday afternoon regarding transitions for remaining clients. She said in January that some would transition to other programs and some would be referred to area providers.
The move brings Central Aroostook Association case workers up from five to eight and the people served from 150 to 235, Michaud said.
“We are thankful for the expertise their staff brings and the care they have for our individuals,” Puckett said in a Friday statement.
Staffing shortages and dwindling Maine Care reimbursements that did not keep pace with the rising costs were at the core of their decision to shutter the programs, Raymond said.
“On a cost scale, we have been downsizing, stretching employee responsibilities, not rehiring some positions that were retired just to slow it down in hopes that our efforts and some of the funding mechanisms would change,” Raymond said, adding that the larger issue is a workforce shortage.
Central Aroostook Association provides programs similar to Northern Maine General, and includes a special-purpose private school, home supports, adult programming, case management, shared living opportunities, children’s support services and residential care.
Among the 154 NMG outpatient clients affected, a number of them receive clinical therapy. But the majority are under behavioral health home coordination, case management and targeted case management for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Raymond said.
“Our primary focus remains on the well-being of our clients and employees,” Raymond said.
Northern Maine General’s home and community-based service and the residential waiver brain injury program — which includes adults with intellectual disabilities and or adults with brain injury — will remain open, as will their oversight of shared living programs.
NMG closed Mercy Home, its nursing home and long-term care facility in Eagle Lake, in May 2025, as a means to address workforce shortage and revenue shortfall.
