This week the nation
observes National Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Week, which
was first launched by the 109th Congress of the United
States June 12, 2006. The AHEC program was developed by the U.S.
Congress in 1971 to recruit, train and retain a health professions
workforce committed to underserved populations.
The HETC (Health
Education Training Centers) program was created in 1989 to provide
programs for specific populations with persistent, severe unmet
health needs. Together the AHEC and HETC programs help bring the
resources of academic medicine to bear in addressing local community
health needs.
Around the nation
AHEC partners with state and local health departments, primary care
associations and community health centers in urban and rural
communities to provide a hands-on experience outside the classroom
for health-care students, ongoing education for health-care
professionals and community health education.
Today, 50 AHEC
programs with more than 200 centers and a dozen HETCs operate in
almost every state and the District of Columbia. Approximately 120
medical schools and 600 nursing and allied health schools work
collaboratively with AHECs and HETCs to improve health for
underserved and under-represented populations.
The Ohio Statewide
AHEC program is centered on the state’s seven medical colleges,
which includes Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine
(OU-COM). The Ohio Statewide AHEC program receives more than $2.5
million in grants, contracts and budget support from federal, state
and local resources.
OU-COM’s AHEC program
— the Consortium for Health Education in Appalachian Ohio — is part
of the college’s Community Health Programs and provides program
services in 20 Appalachian counties. Every one of Ohio’s 88 counties
is served by an AHEC program.
Kathy Trace, R.N.,
director of OU-COM’s Community Health Programs, also directs
OU-COM’s AHEC program. Says Trace, AHEC plays a key role in
promoting health care and health education in Southeastern Ohio.
Every community is unique and AHEC works hard to design diverse
programs that focus on important health-care issues.
“AHEC reaches
individuals and communities in this region through its diverse
programming,” says Trace.
“Last year AHEC
provided resources for more than 160 educational events, coordinated
more than 2,500 service learning hours that reached more than 1,650
people in rural areas, assisted with the coordination of health
career exploration for more than 40 middle school students in local
schools, provided more than $190,000 of free continuing education to
physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors and other allied
health members, and supported the training of more than 600 people
in CPR, advanced cardiac life support and pediatric advanced life
support. AHEC also serves as an American Heart Association Training
Center and provides grants for Women’s Health Month activities.
AHEC’s mission is
accomplished because of its collaboration with academic and
community partners, says Trace.
“OU-COM makes it
possible for us to positively impact the health status of
Appalachian Ohio, primarily by focusing on underserved communities.
At our medical school, this is accomplished, in part, by
coordinating the learning activities (service learning) for medical
students such as health fairs, school visits and campaigns to raise
public awareness of health issues. The program also supports the
exploration of health careers and premedical clinical shadowing.”
“Over the years AHEC
has improved the availability of health-care professionals and
access to quality health care in Ohio,” says Trace.
Join in AHEC’s celebration today at Grosvenor 020. Learn more about
the program by exploring its library.
Come eat some cookies and grab some giveaways, says Tracy
McKibben, AHEC’s administrative assistant.
