FARMINGTON – Pam Ernest has been appointed chief nursing officer at Franklin Memorial Hospital, according to Jill Berry Bowen, FMH chief operating officer.

Ernest will be responsible for the nursing care of all the hospital’s inpatient and outpatient departments.

With 35 years of nursing and leadership experience, Ernest brings a wealth of professional expertise to her new role and has been at the Farmington hospital since 1975. She has been director of education, interim director of ambulance services, and nursing supervisor.

She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, Faculty of Medicine, School of Nursing in New York, and later earned her master’s degree in business from Husson College in Bangor.

She is a member of several professional societies including the Maine Affiliate of the American Nursing Association and the Organization of Maine Nurse Executives.

In addition, she serves on the Advisory Board for SAD 9 Adult Education, is a consultant for CNA programs at the Kenneth Foster Regional Vocational School in Farmington, and is the coordinator for clinical rotations at Franklin Memorial Hospital for Kennebec Valley Community College, School of Nursing and Central Maine Medical Center School of Nursing.

Ernest and her husband, John, live in Wilton and are the parents of three grown children Nichole, Tiffany, and Heather.