Students, professionals gather to promote health education in Indiana
Thirty Indiana high school and college students attended the Indiana Area Health Education Center (AHEC) second annual meeting to see which "piece of the puzzle" they could fill.
This year's meeting, entitled "Bringing the Pieces Together," provided opportunities for the students, who were chosen by their area AHEC directors, educators, advocates, health professionals and community leaders to share ideas, discuss workforce development issues, and ways to reduce medical professional shortages in underserved areas. Achievement awards were presented for the six regional Indiana AHECs.
One of the events designed to expand the students' horizons is a health-care boot camp with representatives from health professions not typically associated with medicine, including first responders, Indiana Canine Assistant Network trainers and a hospital therapy dog, pathologists and dieticians.
AHEC was founded in 2001 to improve access to quality health care through community-academic partnerships. Goals include connecting students to health careers, connecting health professionals to underserved sites and connecting communities to better health.
"AHEC builds a health professions workforce that's willing and able to serve our state's most vulnerable communities," said Dr. Richard Kiovsky, AHEC director and professor of clinical family medicine at the IU School of Medicine.
Research on health workforce studies from the Bowen Research Center were presented by IU School of Medicine faculty members Dr. Deborah Allen, the Otis R. Bowen Professor and director of the center, and Terrell Zollinger, professor of family medicine and associate director of the center.
The March 24 meeting was at the Marten House, 1801 W. 86th St., Indianapolis.
For more information, go to this web site: www.ahec.iupui.edu.
