Karen O’Rourke, Maryfrances Smith, Karen Rogers and Sarah Dubay attend biennial conference of National Area Health Education Centers Organization (NAO)

Representatives of the Maine AHEC (Area Health Education Center) Network, whose program office is part of UNE’s Center for Community and Public Health, attended the biennial conference of the National Area Health Education Centers Organization (NAO) in San Antonio, Texas, July 29 to August 2, 2012.

Karen O’Rourke, MPH, deputy director of the Center for Community and Public Health, and Maryfrances Smith, coordinator of the Maine AHEC Network program office, were joined in attendance by Directors Sarah Dubay, M.Ed., MMEL, and Karen Rogers, MSN, RN-BC, of Eastern Maine AHEC and Western Maine AHEC, respectively.

Rogers presented a paper at the conference, “Integrating Health Literacy into a Healthcare System,” which discussed an initiative that integrated health literacy into one of Maine’s rural healthcare systems, Franklin Community Health Network. The initiative was part of an interprofessional collaboration that included the UNE Maine Geriatric Education Center, also located within the Center for Community and Public Health.

Dubay presented a poster, “Bridging the Gap for the Future of Maine’s Health Smiles, Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) Dental Academy for High School Students,” a joint effort of Dubay and Nicole Kelley at PCHC. The poster highlighted PCHC’s Dental Camp over the last three years and was awarded second place at the conference.  

You can watch the PCHC Dental Academy video here.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.