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Midwest Regional Health Education Center encourages high school students to pursue careers in health care
April Osburn, executive director of the Midwest Area Health Education Center (AHEC), addressed the board at its February board meeting. She spoke about the program’s efforts to create and prepare the next generation of health care professionals, particularly those interested in serving rural and underserved communities.
Housed at Carnegie Mellon University, AHEC is part of the national AHEC program created by Congress in 1971 to recruit, train and retain a workforce of health professionals dedicated to underserved populations. Forty-five states have federally recognized AHEC programs. Osborne outlined the work being done in our community.
In Michigan, the AHEC program consists of a statewide network with regional centers located in Detroit, Houghton Lakes, Marquette, and Mount Pleasant. Their pillar programs focus on recruitment, training and retention. The pipeline program is a recruitment initiative designed to develop a homegrown workforce of diverse healthcare professionals. Community-based student education activities encourage health professions students to work in underserved areas and collaborate with government agencies, academic institutions, and community groups to develop continuing education programs that increase the knowledge and retain health care professionals in shortage areas.
The Health Careers Pipeline Program (HCPP) is dedicated to “growing our own” health care professionals by preparing high school students to pursue careers in the health professions. Through exposure to health career options, mentoring, and health and wellness education, students will engage in rich, practical experiences that promote personal growth and leadership traits. Research shows that early intervention programs like this can greatly influence students’ choices of health careers, and health professions students and residents often work and serve in the places where they were trained. HCPP is a conduit to help students build confidence and a support system for them to enter higher education and beyond. Health Career Pipeline programs are being offered in Mount Pleasant, Saginaw, Thumb Area and Grand Rapids. Such programs serve as a recruiting tool for Carnegie Mellon University. More than 1,000 high school students, undergraduate mentors and medical students have participated in the program. The success of our program is measured by the number of students who enroll in Carnegie Mellon’s graduate programs or medical school and the number of undergraduate students who continue to attend Carnegie Mellon.
Educational activities include clinical training opportunities that place health professions students in a variety of real-world settings, such as immigration, urban and rural community health clinics, and health departments providing health care to rural and underserved populations. Students participating in AHEC’s service-learning program increase awareness of financial and cultural barriers to health care delivery and gain a better understanding of the complex needs of rural and underserved communities. Connecting students with these community populations can help promote future engagement and connections for health professions students to remain in their clinical practice areas.
In addition, we have the AHEC Scholars Program, a national advanced learning opportunity that supplements classroom instruction. This course is designed to prepare students for entry into the health professional workforce by teaching them important complementary skills not taught in normal academic courses.
It allows students to network with other health professions students from across Michigan and learn how to provide care in an interdisciplinary setting while exploring current and emerging health care topics. The AHEC Scholars Program is designed for applicants from diverse backgrounds Passionate interest in providing health care to underserved and rural communities in Michigan. We currently have residents and Carnegie Mellon University medical students participating in the program.
In addition to providing valuable interdisciplinary and supplemental classroom learning opportunities for health professions students preparing to enter the workforce, AHEC provides accredited continuing education programs and professional support to meet the needs of health care professionals, particularly those in rural and the needs of those practicing in underserved areas. AHEC has an extensive network of academic partners and community collaborators designed to respond to local health needs and serve as a critical link between academic training programs and community outreach programs. AHEC is one of the main partners and planners of the project Annual Tribal Opioid Summit. also, National American Hardwood Export Council Organization and American College of Rheumatology gave us a grant to implement Rural Health Outreach Project. A total of four AHECs were selected within the county to provide these educational opportunities.These educational opportunities are designed to increase access to lupus for rural health care providers through virtual or in-person training in partnership with AHEC Lupus Education and networking events with ACR rheumatologist members.
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