Recognizing March 27th to March 31st As National Area Health Education Centers (Ahec) Week

Floor Speech

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Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize March 27th to March 31st as National Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Week.

The AHEC program was originally authorized in 1971 to enhance the workforce of health professionals who staff brick-and-mortar Community Health Centers. Today, Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) offer hands-on and innovative health career curriculums for pre-college level students, and are committed to continuing education, clinical training of health professionals and responding to community health needs. The nation's 300 AHECs are in nearly every state and in multiple U.S. territories. Administered by the HRSA, AHECs are federally funded, and many are also supported by state governments, foundations, or other partners.

AHEC clinical training placements put health professional students in a variety of real-world settings, such as migrant, urban, and rural community health clinics and health departments that provide healthcare to rural and underserved populations, Connecting students to community populations helps facilitate future engagement and help build network alliances for health career students who wish to remain in their clinical practice regions and continue providing more sustainable healthcare in rural and underserved areas following their training.

AHECs are also responsive to community priorities. They are dedicated to collaboratively developing community health education curriculums, for both online and face-to-face training programs, through unique partnerships that meet the broader range of public health needs of diverse and severely rural and underserved populations.

The need to strengthen the healthcare workforce, particularly for underserved communities, has become far more acute over the past several years. According to new Association of American Medical Colleges, the U.S. could see a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034, and the American Hospital Association says more than 200,000 new registered nurses are needed each year to meet increasing health care needs and to replace nurses entering retirement. AHECs continue to be committed to addressing shortage areas and expanding the healthcare workforce, while maximizing diversity and facilitating distribution, especially in rural and underserved communities.

In the past 5 years, the AHEC program has trained 2 million healthcare professionals, who are prepared to deliver culturally appropriate, high-quality, team-based care, with an emphasis on primary care for rural and underserved populations.

I have developed a close relationship with and am proud to support the Nevada AHEC program. I have previously led efforts to increase funding for the national AHEC program in recent fiscal years. As highlighted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Nevada's health workforce needs to be prepared to meet their communities' needs now more than ever. The Nevada AHEC program is one way we will be able to continue to make a significant and sustainable impact in improving healthcare services for the rural and most underserved areas of our state. By having programs that are responsive to local and community needs, and by connecting health students and professionals early on in their careers to the most vulnerable communities, the Nevada AHEC program continues to create a culturally and structurally competent health workforce to tackle the unique challenges our state faces.

On behalf of my constituents, the Nevada AHEC program and the national AHEC program more broadly, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing March 27th to March 31st as National AHEC Week.

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