UAB is doing its part to create better healthcare in Alabama.
UAB has launched an
initiative to expand access to primary care, especially for rural and other
under-served populations. Alabama ranks 49th nationally for
healthcare access.
So how will UAB do this? The School of Medicine will use a five-year, $5.25-million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to create an
Area Health Education Center program that will work to recruit, support and
retain health-care professionals in all 67 Alabama counties.
Cynthia Selleck, DSN, associate dean in the UAB School of Nursing says AHEC will help reduce health disparities by improving the quantity, diversity,
distribution and quality of Alabama's health-care workforce. "We inspire, train, recruit and retain a diverse and broad range of
health professionals to practice in communities in which the need is greatest,"
says Selleck.
The Alabama AHEC will work with UAB's health-profession schools and other
schools and training programs to encourage graduates to consider careers in
primary care in a rural or under-served area.
The
program also will reach out to young people in those communities who may
consider a career in health care beyond their grasp.
The
program will create five regional, community-based centers comprising all
Alabama counties. The locations will be at Alabama A&M University in
Huntsville, Quality of Life Health Center in Gadsden, Maude Whately Health
Center in Greensboro, Central Alabama Veteran's Health Care System in Tuskegee
and Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton.
The AHEC program office will
be housed in the UAB Department of Family and Community Medicine.
