The Central Florida AHEC Mission is to enhance access to quality health care, particularly primary and preventive care, by improving the supply and distribution of health care professionals through community/academic educational partnerships
We do this by:
Extending Academic Resources to Medically Underserved Communities.
By having a presence in the local communities, AHECs have been able to serve as a vehicle for matching educational needs of health professional faculty and students with the health care needs of local communities. Through these academic partnerships, AHECs have been able to produce a significant number of needed health services and community health projects.
Influencing Health Professions Education. AHEC participation encourages health professions education programs to enhance their curricula with community- based clinical experiences, interdisciplinary training, distance education and other programs vital to students’ learning. AHECs also help to identify community preceptors, coordinate student rotations and otherwise serve as a point of contact between the academic health center and the communities where students train.
Providing Information and Support for Community Health Professionals.
Providers in medically underserved areas often suffer from a sense of isolation. Rural providers, in particular, lack the benefits of a local provider network and have less access than their urban counterparts to professional development opportunities. AHEC has become an important support mechanism for Florida’s providers and community members by offering continuing education opportunities, technical assistance, special projects, and access to library resources. AHEC’s continuing education and information services help health care professionals stay current in their fields, assure high-quality care, meet state licensure requirements, and provide many community residents with critically important topical health information.
AHEC Program Objectives:
The purpose of AHEC is to utilize the expertise and resources of the health science training institutions to address health professional education and training needs in underserved remote rural and inner-city communities. AHEC develops programs to facilitate and enhance the:
- Recruitment of students from underserved communities into health professions training programs in area colleges and universities.
- Training of health professions students in various rural and inner-city underserved communities.
- Availability of library/informational resources, continuing education training and other means of assisting isolated practitioners in staying current in their fields; and
- Development of regionalized and community based training programs and initiatives to address emerging primary care and public health issues.