UNE receives federal grant to support health workforce development in rural and underserved areas

UNE pharmacy student shows a Lewiston High School student how a pharmaceutical dental compound would be made.
UNE pharmacy student shows a Lewiston High School student how a pharmaceutical dental compound would be made. The activity was part of UNE’s 2017 Dental Careers Exploration Camp, designed to introduce Maine students to various careers in the oral health field.

The University of New England Center for Excellence in Health Innovation has received a federal grant to support the Maine Area Health Education Center (AHEC), which works to alleviate health workforce shortages in rural and underserved areas of the state.

This $309,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will enhance AHEC’s ability to achieve greater workforce diversity, distribution and practice transformation as part of, and within the context of ongoing changes to the way health care is delivered.

Through this program, AHEC will increase the number of students trained in rural and underserved areas by adding a robust AHEC Scholars program. It will increase community-based training and interprofessional learning opportunities for health profession students, support new strategies to increase workforce diversity and strengthen pipeline activities to encourage youth to pursue health professions.

The funding will also address the training needs of health professions students and rural providers on emerging health issues and health disparities, and support partnerships with government and community-based organizations to enhance workforce-training needs around the challenges of practice transformation. 

The AHEC program office at UNE contracts with three rural centers: Eastern Maine AHEC at the Penobscot Community Health Care, Northern Maine AHEC at Northern Maine Community College and Eastern Maine AHEC at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions

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.