[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8800]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        IN RECOGNITION OF AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERS (AHECs)

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                           HON. KATHY CASTOR

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 25, 2009

  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam 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, 54 AHEC programs and more than 200 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 almost 17,000 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, nearly 102,000 students 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. 
Local AHECs work tirelessly to ensure that no Floridian is without 
timely access to quality health care, and last year alone more than 
1,700 medical students from the USF AHECs provided more than 215,000 
hours of care to an estimated 350,000 patients.
  Not only have AHECs have supported the education of future 
professionals, but they have supported more than 400,000 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.
  Madam 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 23 through March 27, 2009.

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