Eastern Washington University Spokane’s College of Health Science and Public Health recently took over management of the Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Managing the center will help EWU promote and create a health careers pipeline for rural youth.
The center, located on the Riverpoint campus in Spokane, will benefit from Eastern’s strong history of academic and community partnerships throughout the region.
In a news release, Mary Ann Keogh Hoss, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at EWU said the university is thrilled to provide services to rural areas, as well as focus on bringing in students who live in rural areas and develop their interest in various healthcare professions.
“Our numerous health programs are perfectly suited to educate students about the great career possibilities in rural communities,” Keogh Hoss said in the release.
The AHEC will tie into EWU’s current courses under the Health Services umbrella.
Krista Loney, program operations manager for AHEC, said the center will host events throughout the year to bring in students from rural areas to give them the experience of working in a university with industrial equipment. The first event is a “Sleepover for Science,” during which students fourth–sixth grade, will work with simulators in different departments.
Loney said students and staff will go into rural communities to work with high school juniors and seniors to create a program where they will work 20 hours a week in a clinic to “experience what it’s like to work in health care.” The AHEC is also doing a needs assessment in those communities.
“We are going to talk to people and see how Eastern can best serve them,” Loney said. “We’ll take the data from the assessments and provide training and seminars for them.”
There is also a program where first- and second-year medical students will go into rural communities to work as interns at the local health care facilities.
“The program is about getting students to serve in these communities,” Loney said. “After some time, they may find they love working in the area and want to move there.”
The AHEC is funded by grants from the Washington State Department of Health and University of Washington’s Medicine’s WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) program.
EWU has funding to manage the health center for one year though Loney said the university hopes to continue managing it in the long term.
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
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