The Northern Area Health Education Center (NAHEC), located in upstate New York, continues to help pre-health undergraduates explore health careers in rural communities.
The week of August 15th will mark the third annual Rural Healthcare Immersion Program with Wells College and River Hospital of Alexandria Bay. Rural areas tend to lack widespread and accessible healthcare services in comparison to suburban and urban areas. This program promotes the local community to future healthcare providers; more specifically, the Thousand Islands region. Through Rural Healthcare Immersion, students can see the benefits and challenges of providing healthcare in a rural environment. Students will shadow a variety of professionals at the hospital and experience life and events held in the community and surrounding areas. So far, the program has been highly accredited and extremely successful in influencing undergraduate students to continue studying medicine with the intent to bring their services to rural areas like the Thousand Islands region.
Not only does NAHEC provide opportunities for undergraduate and high school students, they also reach out to a younger population of future health care providers. This year’s Camp Med program is scheduled for July 18th at Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, NY. This program is geared toward upcoming Northern Borders P-Tech students (see below) who are currently in middle school. Through this program, students will experience a variety of healthcare careers and participate in hands-on experiments and real life situations alongside healthcare professionals. Camp Med works cohesively with other AHEC programs aimed to immerse students into healthcare and explore future options.
As always, NAHEC continues to support the development of the Northern Borders Pathways in Technology Early College High School Partnerships, also known as P-TECH. This New York State-funded program allows students the opportunity to earn a high school diploma, associates degree, and technical training over six-year span. The program is for students who are interested in pursuing health-related careers or health-related technological careers while preparing them for college throughout their high school career. This program serves as an effective way to continue to bring healthcare services back into rural areas.
For more information about Camp Med, Rural Healthcare Immersion Programs, or Northern Borders Academy P-TECH, please contact Tammy Hill at 315-379-7701 or thill@nahecnet.org.
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