Welcome

AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTER (AHEC) NETWORK
WASHINGTON WYOMING ALASKA MONTANA IDAHO

In October 2004, the University of Washington's multidisciplinary Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program began its twentieth year of activities to help alleviate shortages of health care personnel in medically underserved rural and urban areas of the Northwest and Alaska. In the summer of 2004, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration approved the program for continuing federal financial support through the year 2007.

The University of Washington assumed sponsorship of the AHEC program in 1985 when deterioration of the rural economy and health care system was increasingly apparent.

Besides their educational activities, AHECs in the WWAMI region are one of the key focal points for advocacy for rural and urban underserved health systems. Communities in the region can turn to the AHECs for help with health professional recruiting, community development, community assessments, and strategic planning. Since 1985, the WWAMI AHECs have worked directly with over 100 communities in the region to help them strengthen and expand their health systems.

Today, the regional AHEC network includes six centers, four of which are statewide. The administrative headquarters for these centers are Laramie, Wyoming; Anchorage, Alaska; Bozeman, Montana and Boise, Idaho. Washington, geographically divided by the Cascade Mountains, has centers serving the eastern area from Spokane and the western area from Seattle. All but two of the centers (WWA and ID) are affiliated with colleges and universities that enjoy the confidence of rural communities in their states. The AHECs are incorporated as non-profit organizations and have locally representative boards of directors or advisory committees. The centers meet as a group from time to time, convened by the AHEC program office in the Office of the Dean of the School of Medicine.

Five AHECs were phased into operation sequentially beginning in 1985. Each received federal funds through the National AHEC Program for the maximum-allowable six years. The Wyoming AHEC joined the WAMI AHEC network in 1994. All are now self-sustaining from a mix of sources including federal Model State-Supported AHEC grants, grants from other federal agencies, state governments, foundations, local sources and fees for services. For 2004-2005, the centers estimate that they will operate on $1.3 million in state-awarded and local funds, approximately $1.4 million in other federal funds, in addition to the $520,00 through the National AHEC program. An additional $250,000 will go to the College of Rural Alaska for its Health Education and Training Center, a sub-program of the national AHEC program.

With a reputation as independent brokers in health professions education, the AHECs leverage scarce funds by collaborating with well over 750 entities that include universities, colleges, high schools, hospitals, health care agencies, private foundations and units of federal, state, county and local governments.

The centers are among some 150 AHECs across the United States that comprise a national network which is in place to address emerging health care concerns, ranging from the need for a primary care workforce to the need for expanded training in bioterrorism defense.