Down East 2013 ©
A registered nurse from Baileyville, Maureen Pike, stood next to President Obama in his press conference today on April's dismal unemployment numbers. Obama urged that the federal unemployment system needs to be, well, more like Maine’s: “not just a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future.” Obama cited Pike, a graduate of Washington County Community College [1] as living proof: “Maureen lost her job as a physician's receptionist,” said Obama, “but she didn't lose hope. She took it as an opportunity to upgrade her skills and earned an associate's degree in nursing from a community college. As a consequence, today she works as a registered nurse. The only reason she could afford to do that while supporting her twins was because the state of Maine allowed her to keep her unemployment benefits and study with the help from a Pell Grant.”
Links:
[1] http://www.wccc.me.edu/