AHEC 200

1
East Texas AHEC Area Health Education Center
(AHEC)
2
If you lived in a place where there were not
enough physicians, nurses, or other health
care professionals, you would welcome an Area
Health Education Center (AHEC) to serve your
community.
3
AHECs are
Academic and Community partnerships,
striving to improve the supply, distribution,
diversity and quality of the health workforce,
ultimately increasing access to healthcare in
medically underserved areas.
4
AHEC Structure

• Program Office directed by School of
  Medicine/Osteopathy or their parent institution
• coordinates grant/fiscal management, reporting,
  planning, campus activities, and development
• Local Centers guided by local boards in
  accordance with contract scope of work
• conduct local needs assessment, plan/collaborate
  design of education activities, implement
  community-level activities, assist in evaluating
  outcomes

5
The AHEC Network
6
Texas AHECs
WEST TEXAS AHEC 105 COUNTIES 8 YEARS Texas Tech
University Health Sciences Center Lubbock
EAST TEXAS AHEC 111 COUNTIES 17 YEARS The
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
SOUTH TEXAS AHEC 38 COUNTIES 18 YEARS The
University of Texas Health Science Centerat San
Antonio
7
East Texas AHEC

8
VISION Optimal health for all people in our
region MISSION Improve the health of our
communities by developing a quality health
workforce and helping address unmet health
needs.
9
Our Center Directors say
"It has become common knowledge that access to
healthcare is a problem.  But now the time has
come to roll up our sleeves and truly work
collaboratively to change this inequality.  It
will take the efforts of us all to make a dent in
this problem. Leslie Hargrove, Coastal AHEC
AHECs are known by their collaborative nature
and capability to merge different entities
together for a common goal. With AHEC, community
collaboration is not a goal it is a way of
life. Robynn Michalka, Pecan Valley AHEC
A diverse healthcare workforce is an essential
component of quality care. It is our job to find
and nurture the individuals from our communities
who will add to the diversity of the workforce
and, in turn, care for an increasingly diverse
community. Lori Schell, DFW AHEC
10
What we do?
Allied Health Schools Community Agencies
Community Churches Community Hospitals
Community Colleges Community Health Departments
Community Healthcare Providers Community
Organizations Community Independent School
Districts Medical Schools Nursing Schools
11
Attract and educate under-represented and
disadvantaged individuals, and prepare them for
health professions through health career
awareness activities.
12

• Classroom Presentations
• After School Programs
• Career Fairs
• Summer Camps
• Individual career guidance
• Professional shadowing
• Health center tours
• Mentorship experiences

Health Career Promotions
13
Resources

• H.O.T. Jobs Careers Directory
• Health Careers poster
• Financial aid database
• Career inventory and assessments
• http//www.etxahec.org/hcp/index.htm

Health Career Promotions
14
Outcomes - 2007
Placed priority on underrepresented and
disadvantaged populations

• 27,162 student contacts
• 2,270 students in enrichment programs
• 379 primary and secondary schools
• 665 Teachers / 208 Counselors in Health Careers
  Training and Support

Health Career Promotions
15

• Establish, maintain, and advocate
  community-based training for health professions
  students, with an emphasis on primary care and
  underserved populations.

16

• Support students in community
• community faculty recruitment
• learning resources
• community integration
• site management
• housing assistance

Community-Based Education
17

• Support 540 community faculty
• outstanding community faculty recognition
• teaching skills development
• information resources
• coordinate student scheduling

Community-Based Education
18
Outcomes 2007

• Placed 802 students
• 219,761 training hours
• 18 different disciplines from 39 campuses

Community-Based Education
19
Outcomes - 2007

• Coordinated 936 CBE sites

Community-Based Education
20
Establish and support programs that recruit and
retain health professionals for underserved
populations.
21

• Recruitment assistance
• Continuing education
• Practice support
• Information support services

Practice Entry and Support
22
Outcomes - 2007

• 239 sponsored / co-sponsored events
• 5,564 participants in onsite CE
• 888 program hours
• 15 at-risk primary care practice sites received
  Practice Management Technical Assistance
• Internet pathway information support
• Library reference services

Practice Entry and Support
23

• Foster healthy behavior development in
  individuals, groups, and communities

24

• Pediatric and adult immunization
• Diabetes management education
• Cancer prevention and control
• Tobacco cessation
• Healthy community alliances
• Individual events
• Domestic violence

Health Literacy
25
Outcomes - 2007

• Increased health education programming through
  907 health education projects/programs
• 57,430 participants

Health Literacy
26
Facilitate community evaluation, discussion, and
decision-making processes addressing access to
primary health care
27

• Assistance with
• Assessing local health system
• Community planning
• Management guidance
• Clinical services outreach
• Ancillary support services to local professionals
  and facilities
• Hospital district consolidation

Community Health Systems
28
Outcomes - 2007

• Expanded capacity for conducting community
  assessment and community development activities
• Initiated 313 community health system support
  projects

Community Health Systems
29
AHEC Fiscal Plan

• Originated in 1991 with USDHHS funds - 17 yrs of
  eligibility
• Transition to state funds for core AHEC
  functions, now in second biennium
• Special project-focused funds

30
Fiscal Notes

• 94 of federal AHEC grant funds go to center
  contracts
• Over 50 of state funds go to center contracts
• Centers must transition over 6 years to
  non-federal support
• Centers are encouraged to pursue other funding
  options for community-focused activities

31
Corollary Projects
Nurse Friendly Program
A Program to Enhance Patient Care and the
Retention of Nurses

• provide no-cost consultation and technical
  assistance to small/rural hospitals using
  TNA-developed nurse-friendly criteria

Collaborating with Texas Nurses Association, West
Texas AHEC and South Texas AHEC
Funded by the federal Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA) and Bureau of
Health Professions (BHP) Division of Nursing
32
Overall Program Outcomes

• Thousands of students and professionals supported
  through education outreach
• Dozens of communities benefiting from service
  projects
• Partnered with communities and academic
  collaborators, including all 8 of the states
  health science centers and over 2,900
  organizations and institutions

33
What we hear
I can't thank you enough for the beautiful
execution of the festival on Saturday. It may be
A Small World but your job was HUGE. Penni
Gietz, (Childrens Discovery Museum, Victoria,
Texas) in response to AHECs involvement in the
medical industry exhibit for their annual fund
raiser.
"We appreciate you (Brazos AHEC) coming out to
Mexia.  Usually we have to drive to Dallas for
our CEs.  Thanks" Nurse at a CNE event in Mexia,
TX
This HIPAA training has been invaluable.  I
would have never been able to find all these
resources on my own  2004 HIPAA Training
attendee
AHEC is indispensable to the effort of educating
the public on pressing health issues. Alfredo
Coy, Associate Director, Center for Public
Service, University of North Texas
34
We have identified 1,093 health
professionals(cumulative)added to our
regionafter an AHEC Touch.
35
East Texas AHEC Provides health workforce
development and healthcare access support from a
community-based infrastructure.