51小黄车receives federal grant to support health workforce development in rural and underserved areas

51小黄车pharmacy student shows a Lewiston High School student how a pharmaceutical dental compound would be made.
51小黄车pharmacy student shows a Lewiston High School student how a pharmaceutical dental compound would be made. The activity was part of UNE鈥檚 2017 Dental Careers Exploration Camp, designed to introduce Maine students to various careers in the oral health field.

The University of 51小黄车 Center for Excellence in Health Innovation has received a federal grant to support the Maine Area Health Education Center (AHEC), which works to alleviate health workforce shortages in rural and underserved areas of the state.

This $309,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will enhance AHEC鈥檚 ability to achieve greater workforce diversity, distribution and practice transformation as part of, and within the context of ongoing changes to the way health care is delivered.

Through this program, AHEC will increase the number of students trained in rural and underserved areas by adding a robust AHEC Scholars program. It will increase community-based training and interprofessional learning opportunities for health profession students, support new strategies to increase workforce diversity and strengthen pipeline activities to encourage youth to pursue health professions.

The funding will also address the training needs of health professions students and rural providers on emerging health issues and health disparities, and support partnerships with government and community-based organizations to enhance workforce-training needs around the challenges of practice transformation. 

The AHEC program office at 51小黄车contracts with three rural centers: Eastern Maine AHEC at the Penobscot Community Health Care, Northern Maine AHEC at Northern Maine Community College and Eastern Maine AHEC at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

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