PORTLAND, Maine — Friday was “Match Day” in the health care world.
Every fourth-year medical student in the United States discovered simultaneously where they would spend the next one to seven years preparing for their medical careers in a residency program at a hospital or medical facility.
In Maine, at the strike of noon, a gymnasium full of students, family, and friends at the University of New England in Biddeford opened their letters. At MaineHealth's Free Street office in Portland, Tufts University students did the same.
For 16 years, both the school and health care provider have partnered for the Maine Track program. In it, Assistant Dean Dena Whitesell explained students leave Tufts' Boston, Massachusetts campus after their first year of medical school and come to Maine for hands-on training. The program offers financial assistance to students from Maine but is open to all. It aims to entice students to choose to work in Maine after graduating.
"There absolutely is a physician shortage in Maine, and we’re delighted to help contribute to the future of change for that," Whitesell said.
Staff stood in a line holding envelopes containing each student's fate. Long before that moment, the students had conducted interviews with various medical institutions and ranked their top choices while the institutions did the same for their preferred candidates. An algorithm then produced matches.
After the crowd shared a champagne toast, the pupils prepared to break open their letters.
Tom Farrar is a Tufts student from Winterport going into psychiatry. Despite saying he was about to open a life-altering envelope, he showed no signs of stress.
"I think there’s a lot of nerves in the air, but I’m feeling at peace with wherever it’s gonna take me and I think I’d be happy wherever the wind blows," Farrar said with a smile.
His father, Reed, was proud no matter where his son ended up.
"I’m relieved because he’s near the end of one journey and starting another one," the proud father said. "It’s been eight years of college."
At a podium, Whitesell reminded the room that not everyone would get their first choice.
"Feel your feelings; be disappointed; be angry," Whitesell said. "But I know that what feels like a cloud, and what might feel like a cloud today, is going to have a silver lining."
At the stroke of noon, the sound of conversation was replaced by tearing paper.
An elated scream erupted from a mother across the room, as she stared at her daughter's letter.
A father gave a reserved cheer and fist-pumped as his son turned his letter around.
Tears fell from Amanda Pomeroy as her mother held her. Both she and her boyfriend Sam Reed had matched with their first choice: University of Virginia Hospital.
"I had actually been really nervous all morning," Pomeroy beamed while holding her paper. "But as soon as I had this in my hand I was not nervous anymore, which was kind of strange."
Sam Reed listened, then inhaled.
"I was more nervous," he laughed.
As for our Winterport native, Farrar got his first choice as well. He'd soon begin his psychiatry residency at Maine Medical Center.
"I really wouldn’t be here without you guys," Farrar said to the entourage of loved ones who joined him Friday.
It would likely be the group's last day decided by luck. The real tough work starts now—or at least when the champagne runs out.