Maine
Short Staffing Pushed Nurses to Launch Strike at Maine Hospital
Nurses at Maine’s Houlton Regional Hospital (HRH) will go on strike next week to protest the hospital’s failure to address staffing and patient care concerns.
There are 55 nurses at HRH represented by the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC).
Why It Matters
According to the union, the hospital’s emergency department is facing short staffing. Nurses said the hallways are full of patients due to a lack of available inpatient beds and the severity of their conditions.
“I hope with the strike, the public and management see that we are not trying to cause problems,” Tenille Nason, an emergency department nurse at HRH, told Newsweek in an interview. “We truly believe in this cause. We truly believe patient care is suffering because they are not listening to what [nurses] are saying.”
This comes as nurses across the country have announced strikes amid ongoing contract negotiations. Nurses at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Michigan have been on strike for two months as negotiations over wage increases and staffing ratios continue.
What To Know
In September, nurses at HRH voted to authorize the strike after over a year of negotiations for a new contract. The previous contract expired last November.
Nason has been a nurse in HRH’s emergency department for the past two decades. She told Newsweek that she’s very involved in the hospital but decided to support this strike because management hasn’t been listening to the concerns of nurses about short staffing.
Nason said that when she comes into work to relieve the night shift at 7 a.m., there are often only two nurses and 12-14 patients waiting to be evaluated. This overwhelms staff trying to prioritize who to care for first and often means there are not enough hospital beds for sick patients.
“Taking care of the patients properly when we’re short staffed is just not feasible,” she said. “We do the best we can, but it makes it very hard.”
She adds that HRH is a small hospital, but it serves several counties. Nason said patients and staff know each other and have seen patients grow from babies into adults.
“They know that I would not even think about stepping away from doing my job unless I absolutely did not feel that their safety and their care was at risk,” she said.
In a statement on Facebook, Houlton Regional Hospital said it has a contingency plan to ensure minimal to no disruptions in services. The hospital said it will remain open, saying it will continue to put patients and community members first despite the nurses’ choice to walk away.
“Given the excitement expressed by our communities and patients, for our expanded services and focus on our employees, we are disappointed that the bargaining unit registered nurses have chosen to strike and step away from their patients,” Houlton Regional Hospital CEO Jeff Zewe said in a statement. “We have been meeting regularly with the nurses’ representatives and have made a fair and competitive offer that includes a substantial wage increase over the duration of the contract, along with enhancements to employee benefits.”
The decision to strike also comes as the hospital’s announced the closure of its maternal services department in May. The hospital said there were several factors that made continued operations of an OB unit unsustainable, including declining birth rates at the hospital, difficulty staffing the OB unit, the high cost of staffing and maintaining the department and cuts in state reimbursement rates.
“While the Board has delayed this decision throughout years of financial losses, these losses from the OB unit are a significant drain on the hospital’s overall financial performance, and one that would have a long-term impact on the hospital’s continued viability if not addressed,” the hospital board of trustees said.
In April, nurses at HRH’s labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum department held a candlelight vigil against the closure of the department.
Nason added that the absence of OB nurses in the emergency department has exacerbated staffing issues and puts patients at risk if nurses have to prioritize a mother in labor.
What Happens Next
The nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital will go on a two-day strike at the hospital from Tuesday, November 18, to Thursday, November 20.
“With the strike, we’re hoping to get better staffing so that our patients can be taken care of properly,” Nason said. “We’re hoping this allows management and everybody to see that we are fighting for our patients because we want to be able to provide the best care we can.”
What People Are Saying
Michael MacArthur, a nurse in the HRH emergency department: “For the past several years, hospital management has consistently relied on travel nurses to help staff the hospital. We need to retain our experienced nurses who live in the area. We get plenty of nurses to come, but they leave. We need a strong contract that protects us and our patients and attracts and retains excellent nurses.”
Houlton Regional Hospital CEO Jeff Zewe said in a statement: “Despite the union’s decision to strike, our focus remains on our patients and our community. I want to reassure everyone that our staffing levels meet or exceed national safety standards, as reflected in our strong quality outcomes.”
Newsweek reached out to Houlton Regional Hospital for comment.
Have an announcement or news to share? Contact the Newsweek Health Care team at health.care@newsweek.com.
PORTLAND (WGME) — Wednesday afternoon, Tassel Top Park officials posted on social media, reporting the beach was temporarily closed to swimming after routine testing found elevated levels of E. coli in the water.
Anna Goodnik, a visitor at the park, says she was disappointed to learn she could not swim.
“It’s a beautiful lake. I feel so sorry, it’s too bad this happened,” Goodnik said.
She says she drove from Portland to visit the park.
“Very sad because I came from Portland, I drove 40 minutes,” Goodnik said.
Goodnik says she has been coming to Tassel Top Park for 15 years and that while the park remained open, she was hoping to get in the water.
“The water is so smooth right now, I would just like to swim in it,” Goodnik said.
Raymond Town Manager Glenn Michalowski said in a statement that the Portland Water District provides weekly test results for 18 locations around Sebago Lake. Tassel Top Beach was closed for swimming because E. coli levels exceeded state water quality standards.
Michalowski said testing indicated the presence of waterfowl in the area, which can contribute to elevated bacterial levels. The statement also noted that high E. coli counts after rain events and in areas with waterfowl activity are a normal occurrence across Maine beaches and recreational water areas.
Ben Peierls, research director at the Lakes Environmental Association, says warmer water can lead to more bacterial growth.
“When water gets warmer, there’s more growth of bacteria,” Peierls said.
Peierls says E. coli can come from animals such as birds, dogs and other wildlife, or from human waste. He says this time of year can bring rain and runoff that carries contaminants into lakes.
“This time of year, there’s lot of rain and runoff materials coming into lakes, and it’s coming from sources where there may have been that fecal material, and it gets washed into lakes and it shows up in places people could be recreating,” Peierls said.
Tassel Top is not the only location reporting elevated bacteria levels. Ferry Beach in Scarborough and East End Beach in Portland also reported results above Maine’s safety threshold for enterococci in marine waters.
Town officials say Tassel Top Beach will reopen once retesting confirms the water has returned to safe levels, and residents will be notified when the closure is lifted. Swimming can resume once weekly testing confirms water quality is back within safe limits.
To check the status of all beaches in the state, click here.
HARPSWELL (WGME) — The Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office says a person was hospitalized after a shed fire Wednesday night.
Firefighters were called to 23 Smokehouse Road in Harpswell for a shed fire around 7 p.m.
Crews quickly put out the fire and kept it from spreading into the woods.
An unhoused person who had been living in the shed suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
They were taken to Maine Medical Center for treatment.
Investigators believe the fire may have been electrical in nature.
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The fire remains under investigation.
Three tornadoes have been confirmed across New England so far in 2026, and remarkably, all of them have occurred in Vermont.
Two of those tornadoes touched down during severe thunderstorms on June 18, when a potent weather system swept across the region.
Vermont tornadoes in 2026 (WGME).
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado in Lincoln with peak winds of 105 mph and another EF-1 tornado in Woodstock with winds reaching 100 mph.
Earlier this spring, an EF-1 tornado struck Williamstown on April 16 with estimated winds of 90 mph.
This week’s Climate Chronicles question comes from Kate:
With severe weather last week, how often do we actually see tornadoes touch down in Maine?
Maine tornado activity (WGME).
Historically, Maine averages about two tornadoes each year, with most occurring between June and August.
Most storms develop during the late afternoon and early evening, typically between 3 and 9 p.m., when hours of sunshine have heated the ground and created the instability needed for thunderstorms to form.
The last confirmed tornado to touch down in Maine was in 2023.
Average amount of tornadoes that touch down in each New England state per year (WGME).
Massachusetts and Connecticut also average about two tornadoes per year, with many occurring across the flatter terrain of western portions of both states.
In Massachusetts, the broad Connecticut River Valley stretching through Springfield has earned the nickname “New England’s Tornado Alley” due to its history of tornado activity.
Vermont, on the other hand, typically averages just one tornado annually. With three confirmed tornadoes already in 2026, the state has already exceeded its yearly average by two, making this an unusually active year for tornadoes in the Green Mountain State.
Maine’s tornado history (GoSanAngelo, WGME).
Since 1950, Maine has recorded 140 tornadoes. None have been rated stronger than an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the system used to classify tornado intensity based on the damage they cause.
Unlike hurricanes, tornadoes are not assigned ratings while they are occurring. Instead, National Weather Service survey teams assess damage after the storm has passed, examining impacts to homes, buildings, trees, and other structures.
From that damage, meteorologists estimate the tornado’s wind speeds and assign an EF rating ranging from EF0 to EF5.
While Maine has experienced its share of tornadoes over the decades, the state has never recorded a violent EF4 or EF5 tornado.
Do you have any weather questions? Email our Weather Authority team at weather@wgme.com. We’d love to hear from you!
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