Do you use social media? Will you be attending the upcoming NAO Conference June 27 through June 30, 2016? Here’s some important information you’ll need to know!
Be sure to use the hashtag #AHEC2016 on your social media posts when tweeting, SnapChatting, or whichever platform you choose.
We’ve created a group in the HWapps Community specifically for 2016 NAO Conference attendees, AHEC-affiliated professionals, and anyone else with AHEC and/or NAO queries or comments.
The HWapps Community provides a platform for users to connect, share news and resources, and respond to questions or feedback.
Please click here to access the HWapps Community.
R-AHEC is part of the New York State Area Health Education Center (AHEC) System. The Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center (WNY R-AHEC) is a non-profit independent facilitation resource that creates community partnerships to educate and place health care professionals – doctors, nurses, dentists, technologists, and other allied health practitioners – in the underserved areas where they are needed most. WNY R-AHEC is headquartered in Warsaw, New York and serves as a networking hub to a rural 12-county region. We link academic institutions, students, health facilities and professionals together, working to address the health manpower needs of our rural communities. Considering community input and keeping in mind the expectations of the national AHEC program, our Center’s areas of focus include the following:
In addition to these core services, the WNY R-AHEC is involved with organizing upwards of twenty community-based projects at any given point in time. These projects vary in scope and focus and are designed to target specific community needs. Projects can range from 2-day career education camps for seventh and eighth graders to distance learning programs that support rural practitioners in improving women’s health.
For more information, please see WNY R-AHEC’s website.
The mission of HM AHEC is to Develop and Strengthen the Healthcare Workforce in Underserved Communities.
This is accomplished through a myriad of pipeline programming and workforce initiatives.
Our vision is to be recognized as a leader in the recruitment and development of the healthcare workforce, especially in the underserved areas of our ten county region (Albany, Essex, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren, and Washington).
HM AHEC focuses on the prospective healthcare workforce by providing assistance with career counseling, education programs and funding, and job opportunities. Services are also extended to the incumbent healthcare workforce to upgrade their skills and provide career ladders.
These activities help us to build a pipeline of healthcare workers who have the necessary competencies to improve healthcare service delivery.
Over the past ten years, Hudson Mohawk AHEC has reached over 16,000 participants with Pipeline and other Preparation Programming, and close to 10,000 participants through professional education. HM AHEC has also placed close to 300 Community Based Clinical Rotations working with over 75 preceptors.
The Erie Niagara Area Health Education Center (ENAHEC) is a partner in the New York State Area Health Education Center System. The New York State AHEC system is funded by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (Bureau of Health Professions), New York State’s Health Care Reform Act of 2000 and local community support. In 1971 Congress passed legislation authorizing the establishment of Area Health Education Center programs in response to the unequal distribution of the health care work force. AHEC’s focus is on encouraging, recruiting and retaining health professionals to practice in under served communities.
The Erie Niagara AHEC was formed in September 2003, and was housed on the campus of Buffalo State College until moving in 2004 on Linwood Avenue and most recently Benwood Avenue. It’s the seventh AHEC in New York State and the only AHEC in the state outside of New York City serving a major urban area.
The ENAHEC doesn’t just serve urban areas; it’s also focuses on rural and suburban communities. This helps create a link between the communities as well as creating partnerships. Over the six years since its inception, the ENAHEC has successfully conducted and completed over 180 programs, providing health, exposure and educational opportunities to over 500 students and non students. There programs are all health and educational based, ranging from CSI camps at Buffalo State College, Allied Health Programs at Erie Community College, Health Exploration Programs at the University at Buffalo and a newly formed partnership with The Community Health Center of Buffalo.
Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center (AHEC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and one of nine partners in the New York State Area Health Education Center (AHEC) System. Catskill Hudson AHEC’s region is comprised of eleven (11) counties, including Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Otsego, Putnam, Rockland, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster.
The goal of the AHEC program is to improve access to quality, primary healthcare in medically underserved areas through educational activities designed to recruit, train, and retain community-based healthcare personnel where they are most needed. Strategies used to achieve this goal include:
Our Mission: Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center’s mission is to address regional healthcare workforce shortages through education and collaborative community relationships to assist students, career seekers, and health professionals.
Our Vision: The vision of Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center is to foster an 11-county region that proactively assesses, develops, and strengthens a diverse and motivated workforce to meet the needs of each individual community.
The Brooklyn- Queens-Long Island Area Health Education Center (BQLI-AHEC) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization established in August 2003. The Center is one of three New York Metropolitan Region AHECs that were developed to address the health workforce issues in underserved communities. By providing services to four counties (Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk) BQLI-AHEC target area is one of the largest regions in the New York State. Nine communities within this catchment area have been designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. These areas include: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Coney Island, East New York, Bushwick and Williamsburg in Brooklyn; South Jamaica and Far Rockaway in Queens; North Valley Stream, Elmont, Hempstead, Roosevelt and Freeport in Long Island.
The Executive Director and Board of Directors provide leadership to the AHEC. The Board of Directors is comprised of professionals from community health centers, education institutions, hospitals, businesses and community-based organizations.
BQLI AHEC receives federal and state funding provided through the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) and New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH).
Our Mission
The mission of the Brooklyn- Queens-Long Island Area Health Education Center (BQLI-AHEC) is to improve health care outcomes in under served area through the development of education, mentoring and training programs to increase the pool of skilled providers that will service under served communities.
Activities/Strategies:
Since its inception in 2003, BQLI-AHEC has exposed over 5,000 middle, high school and college students to challenging, rewarding careers in medicine, nursing, physical and occupational therapy, health education, health care administrative and support services and emergency care. Youth ages 13-21 have learned about health professions through workshops, job shadowing, facility tours, structured internships and on-going mentorship.
Bronx Westchester Area Health Education Center (BW AHEC) is a partner of the New York State Area Health Education Center (AHEC) System. The New York State AHEC System is funded by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, New York State’s Health Care Reform Act of 2000 and local community support. The Bronx-Westchester Area Health Education Center was established in July 2001 and is the first of three New York City AHECs. It serves the entire regional area of the Bronx which has a population of approximately 1.4 million, and the underserved communities of Westchester County which has a population in excess of 900 thousand.
We are committed to improving the health and healthcare outcomes of underserved communities in the Bronx and Westchester Areas through recruitment, retention and enrichment for the healthcare workforce.
Through collaborative relationships with partnering healthcare facilities, academic institutions, government agencies and a variety of community based organizations, the Bronx-Westchester Area Health Education Center:
Welcome to the Manhattan Staten Island (MSI) AHEC HWapps section. The programs and services of the MSI AHEC are designed to meet the needs of various groups entering, or already a part of the health care system.As Executive Director of the MSI AHEC, I encourage students to use the information here to support your efforts to pursue the health professions of your choice. I encourage parents to use this site to increase your resources to assist your children in achieving their health career goals, and I encourage health professionals and health care providers to join us in providing opportunities for underrepresented individuals to experience and learn the health care industry.
Thank you for your interest.
Mary J. Mitchell
The Manhattan Staten Island Area Health Education Center (MSI AHEC) was incorporated in May, 2004 to address health care disparities through increased workforce diversity, and improve access to health care by providing education services particularly for medically underserved communities.
The MSI AHEC is part of both a national program, with centers in 46 states, and a New York statewide system, developed in 1998, with four regions designed to support nine centers throughout the state.
New York’s ninth and newest AHEC is located in the heart of Harlem and serves the counties of New York (Manhattan) and Richmond (Staten Island).
There are approximately 1.5 million people living in Manhattan, and just over 440,000 on Staten Island. The populations in both Manhattan and Staten Island are diverse; according to the 2000 census the populace in Manhattan is defined as: 46% White, 27% Hispanic, 15% Black, 9% Asian and 2% Other; in Staten Island, the populace is defined as: 71% White, 12% Hispanic, 9% Black, 5% Asian and 2% Other.
There are 9 school districts within the geographic boundaries of Manhattan and Staten Island; these districts fall into 3 public school regions: 7 (SI), 9 and 10 (Manhattan). With the New York City public school system in disarray, its failures disproportionately affect students of color (38% of students are Latino; 34% Black; 14% White), many of whom are from impoverished backgrounds (approximately 70% of students in Manhattan/Staten Island public schools receive free/reduced price lunch). AHEC helps to promote minority interest in the health-care professions through programs like the Summer Health Internship Program (SHIP), which provides high school and college students exposure to the health field.
Such initiatives are extremely important in Manhattan and Richmond Counties, where minorities are underrepresented in the health care professions, and many live in Medically Undeserved Areas (MUA) or are designated as Medically Undeserved Populations (MUP); in Manhattan these areas have been identified in Clinton, East Harlem, Central Harlem, Washington Heights/Inwood, portions of Chinatown and the Lower East Side; in Staten Island it is primarily in regions of Community District 1.
Additionally, in Manhattan there are 2 population groups and 3 geographic areas designated as Health Professional Shortages Areas (HPSAs) are designation by the Health Resources and Services Administration given to an appropriate area, population, or a facility serving either of those two); the areas are: Lower East Side, West Central Harlem, and Washington Heights. There are 4 community health centers in New York County designated as serving these communities. In Richmond, while there are no population or geographic area HPSA designations, there are 3 HPSA designated community health centers identified as working with the medically undeserved. The regions identified as MUA or HPSA have in common the vast number of minorities, especially Blacks and Latinos, living within their boundaries. These identified populations not only have significant health problems, including high rates of HIV/AIDS, asthma, and diabetes, but also numerous socioeconomic hardships. Of the over 1.5 million people in Manhattan, about 20% are living below the poverty level, and around 36% are below 200% of the poverty level; both of these rates are higher than at the state level (14.6% and 30% respectively). In Staten Island, these percentages are tempered and fall below that at the state level, with less than 10% of the population living below the poverty line and 21.8% living below 200% of the poverty level. These poverty rates, again, disproportionately affect minority populations, and are elevated in the Black and Latino communities in Manhattan and Staten Island.
Available to students and health care consumers in the Manhattan/Staten Island AHEC area are:
Through its initiatives, MSI AHEC aims to increase the number of minorities in health care delivery, and develop professionals to serve those communities that need them the most.
The Central Region Office of New York’s AHEC system received grant funding to host a training for cancer screening. However, they needed access to a Learning Management System (LMS) that was accessible to all providers, even those providers outside of the Upstate Regional network.
Upstate Regional of New York needed an LMS to host their online training that was accessible to providers in and out of their network.
Solution
HWapps was able to serve as an LMS to host the Central Region Office’s training. In addition, HWapps staff were able to add evaluations, quizzes, and a certificate for the course. HWapps users could search for the course, learn about the course, connect with the instructor, access resources, and register for the course.
Value to AHECs