In Recognition of Area Health Education Centers (AHECS) - Hon. Kathy Castor

Floor Speech

* Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker: I rise today to acknowledge the contributions of the nation's Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) and applaud the vitally important healthcare workforce programs they conduct to improve access to healthcare for medically under-served individuals.

* AHECs, established by Congress in 1971 as one of the Title VII Health Professions Training programs, are the workforce development, training and education machine for the nation's healthcare safety net programs. Across the nation, 56 AHEC programs and more than 235 affiliated AHEC centers collaborate with over 120 medical schools and 600 nursing and allied health programs to improve the quality, geographic distribution and diversity of the primary care workforce.

* Last year, AHECs facilitated the placement of more than 44,000 health professional students in 17,530 community-based practice settings nationwide including community health centers, rural health clinics, critical access hospitals, tribal clinics and public health departments. To address the growing shortage of health care professionals in America, over 33,000 received more than 20 hours of health career exposure, information, and academic enhancement to prepare them for health professions training programs.

* The University of South Florida's AHEC Program connects students to careers, professionals to communities, and communities to better health. The USF AHEC Program inspires youth to choose a career in the health professions with its health career camps, mentoring programs, college preparatory courses and more. USF focuses on recruiting more minority and disadvantaged youth into health careers because as the nation's population becomes more diverse, it is important that the health care workforce reflects that diversity. AHECs in the Tampa Bay area are dedicated to community service and committed to enhancing the lives of Florida's most vulnerable populations who often go without health care due to geographic isolation and economic or social status. From 2000 to now, USF AHEC and its centers, Gulfcoast North AHEC and Gulfcoast South AHEC, have placed over 13,000 health professions students, residents and providers in medically underserved sites such as community health centers, county health departments and indigent care clinics within its service area; have increased access to healthcare at these sites with approximately 3 million patient encounters; and have guided more than 10,000 youth to careers in health through student enrichment and diversity programs. Most recently, USF AHEC and its centers have also provided tobacco cessation services to over 1,600 residents of the service area in an effort to combat the nation's leading cause of disease, disability and death--tobacco use.

* Not only have AHECs supported the education of future professionals, but they have supported more than 482,000 health professionals caring for the medically under-served with programs designed to enhance their skills, knowledge, and quality of care. AHECs have awarded 1.1 million contact hours of continuing education programs to current health professionals. AHECs extend the academic resources of health professions training programs into rural and medically under-served communities throughout the United States by creating partnerships between the health science centers that train health professions students, residents, faculty, and practitioners and the local providers that care for our nation's increasing number of medically under-served citizens.

* Mr. Speaker, through community-based interdisciplinary training programs, AHECs identify, inspire, recruit, educate, and retain a health care workforce committed to under-served populations. To that end, I would like to take this opportunity to officially recognize National AHEC Week, March 14 through March 18, 2011.

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