The National Area Health Education Center Organization (NAO) has chosen Omaha to host its 2006 annual conference. One of the places Omaha beat out was Las Vegas, said Roxanna Jokela, director of the Rural Health Education Network, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and deputy director of the Nebraska Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) program. She said the Nebraska AHEC centers submitted a proposal last fall to the NAO.
NAO is the national organization that supports and advances the Area Health Education Centers and Health Education Training Center network in improving the health of individuals and communities through education. About 700 people from across the country are expected to visit Omaha June 10-14, 2006, for a week of education, networking, and sharing new ideas.
Nebraska AHECs are the Panhandle AHEC in Scottsbluff, Central Nebraska AHEC in Grand Island and the Northern Nebraska AHEC in Norfolk. Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) provide health professions education assistance in their communities and provide a wide range of activities geared to K-12 students that encourage their interest in health careers. AHECs sponsor job shadowing programs, career fairs, community health fairs, science meets, lunch and learn sessions, puppet shows and a variety of other activities that introduce health careers.
The NAO Conference will bring AHEC program directors, center directors, program coordinators, board members and other individuals to Omaha to learning about the latest innovations in health professions education. Model programs will be presented, new theories on adult and student learning styles will be presented and leadership sessions will be held for board members and new directors.
AHECs also work with health providers already in the community by coordinating continuing education credit courses and engaging them as preceptors and supervisors for visiting students. Students from UNMC who go to rural communities for their rotations may also be assisted by the AHECs.