A health education center will be formed over the next year to address
health-care needs in 22 counties in northern Nebraska, as part of a federal
grant that has been awarded to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The Northern Nebraska Area Health Education Center (NN-AHEC) will be
centered in Norfolk. The federal AHEC program allows medical schools and
community centers to cooperate to recruit and train health-care professionals
to serve in rural areas. Officials formally announced the forming of the
NN-AHEC at a news conference Friday.
Ultimately, the overall health of northern Nebraskans will benefit
because of the AHEC, said Michael Sitorius, M.D., chairman of the UNMC
department of family medicine and director of the AHEC program in Nebraska.
The AHEC centers provide a means to augment what the state, university
and rural communities already are doing to recruit, educate and train students
to practice in rural Nebraska. We look forward to partnering with rural
communities to educate students and practitioners for rural health care.
The health education center in northern Nebraska is the second AHEC
in the state. The Central Nebraska AHEC was organized over the past year
and serves 28 counties. A three-year, $2.08 million grant awarded to UNMC
in September 2001 provides funding for the centers.
The Northern Nebraska AHEC soon will hire an executive director and
staff. The executive director will report to a board of directors. The
federal grant stipulates that 75 percent of the money must be spent in
the rural Nebraska centers, and UNMC can receive 25 percent for administrative
support.
We have a great opportunity to work with diverse partnerships in our
22-county area to assess the educational needs of our current health-care
providers, to promote health-care careers in our youth and to promote community-based
health education, said Sally McKenzie, director of outreach and medical
staff development at Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk and chairperson
of the NN-AHEC Board of Directors. The addition of a family practice residency
program in Norfolk will provide future family practice physicians for the
region.
McKenzie indicated that recruitment has begun for the programs executive
director, with a target start date of Nov. 1, 2002.
UNMC was awarded the grant through a competitive process. Dr. Sitorius,
a Cozad native, said the Nebraska congressional delegation and state officials
including Gov. Mike Johanns were supportive of UNMCs funding application
for the centers. Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., will be on hand for the formal
announcement of the Northern Nebraska AHEC today.
UNMC formalized its commitment to rural Nebraska nearly a decade ago
when it formed the Rural Health Education Network (RHEN), which has begun
several programs including eighth-grade science meets and the highly
successful Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP) to address rural
health-care shortages.
AHEC will build on the success of RHEN and will provide for more community
decision-making, in terms of their health-care needs and resources, said
Roxanna Jokela, coordinator of RHEN and deputy director of the UNMC AHEC
program.