[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 24, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E258-E259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HONORING NATIONAL AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERS WEEK 2026

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. H. MORGAN GRIFFITH

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 24, 2026

  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize March 23, 2026 
through March 27, 2026, as National AHEC (Area Health Education 
Centers) Week.
  The AHEC program was originally authorized in 1971 and worked in 
conjunction with other Health Resource Services Administration (HRSA) 
programs to provide health professionals to staff the 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 HRSA, AHECs are federally funded, and 
many are also supported by state governments, foundations, or other 
partners.
  AHEC clinical training placements put health profession 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 network alliance 
building for health career students 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 the 
underserved, continues. 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 health care workforce, while maximizing 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 had the opportunity to work closely with the Virginia AHEC and 
have witnessed the amazing work they are doing. The Virginia AHEC 
regions are made up of dedicated teams of professionals who collaborate 
with healthcare providers, educators, and community leaders, to create 
innovative programs and initiatives that address the evolving 
healthcare needs of our Commonwealth's underserved population.
  The mission of Virginia AHEC is to provide interprofessional and 
educational resources to motivate, recruit, train, and maintain a 
healthcare workforce dedicated to serving rural regions with the 
Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2024, they offered continuing education to 
over 1,000 health care workers, pipeline programming for over 900 high 
school students, and clinical training to over 1,800 health 
professional students to accomplish this mission.
  Virginia AHEC strives to provide experiential learning opportunities 
for health professional students in every region. In 2024, Virginia 
AHEC helped 1,844 students complete 4,668 hours of training at rural 
and medically underserved clinical training sites.
  Virginia AHEC provides specialized programming for health 
professional students who wish to work in Primary Care, specifically in 
rural and/or medically underserved areas in Virginia, called the VA 
AHEC Scholars Program. In 2024, Virginia AHEC had 224 active VA AHEC 
Scholars. Each Scholar completed

[[Page E259]]

40 hours of education and 40 hours of clinical training through 
participation in the program.
  As a major component of the program, Virginia AHEC created a 
statewide, a synchronous Community Health Worker Training Program. 
Since the creation of the program three years ago, VA AHEC has trained 
over 300 Community Health Workers.
  The Southwest Virginia AHEC is located at the Bradley Free Clinic. 
The Bradley Free Clinic works with students from 28 academic programs 
spanning medicine, dentistry, residency training, counseling, and 
public health, providing hands-on clinical and community-based learning 
experiences. My son personally experienced the benefits of this hands-
on learning environment to prepare him for a career in healthcare.
  On behalf of my constituents at Virginia AHEC program and the 
national AHEC program more broadly, I call on my colleagues to join me 
in recognizing March 23, 2026 through March 27, 2026, as National AHEC 
(Area Health Education Centers) Week.

                          ____________________