BANGOR, Maine — When Clifton resident Tina Hinkley found herself laid off and without a job, she turned to Eastern Maine Development Corp. for help with retraining for a new career.
“I was displaced by the phone company. FairPoint [Communications] laid people off after our strike,” Hinkley said Friday, standing in a conference room at her new job. “I went back to school. I had two girls who I wanted to encourage to go to college. I couldn’t do that If I wasn’t willing to go myself.”
Shortly after her oldest daughter was selected as a Mitchell Scholar, the 133-day FairPoint strike started. Hinkley was laid off shortly after the strike ended in February 2015.
Spokeswoman Jennifer Brooks said people often think retraining is only for displaced millworkers.
“We are now working to make sure people know about the workforce services available to them, even if they are not dislocated from a mill,” Brooks said. “We are hearing often that people didn’t realize that our services were there for anyone who is not employed.”
There are an array of services for the unemployed, including job-seeking resources, on-the-job training, programs for veterans and access to the National Farm Worker Jobs Program. EMDC is a private nonprofit economic development organization focused on business, community and workforce development.
Hinkley decided to go back to school to become a certified medical administrative assistant.
“The classes were issued by Bangor Adult Education and EMDC had their own instructor for medical coding and curriculum,” she said, while giving a tour of her new job as a reimbursement specialist at St. Joseph Healthcare. “It was good. EMDC set it all up.”
The retraining course was condensed, so instead of taking a year, the course took only nine months, and ended with on-the-job training, which Hinkley said was invaluable.
Hinkley was hired at St. Joseph about four months ago.
“I started here as a job shadow,” she said. “I got experience before I started and then I applied” and got the job.
And Hinkley didn’t stop there. She is studying to take a big test next month.
“I’m taking my medical coding and billing test in December,” she said.
St. Joseph spokeswoman Amy Kenney said she was impressed with Hinkley’s ambition.
“That is not easy,” Kenney said of the coding test. “It’s like a whole different language.”
Kenney said everyone in Hinkley’s office is very pleased with her performance.
The Clinton resident said she really likes the smaller working environment.
“I wanted to work someplace that was more like a family,” Hinkley said. “I’ve worked at bigger places, like FairPoint, were you were always a number. I’m not a number here.”