VHWDA is proud to manage the Virginia Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program and its regional centers statewide. The AHEC Program is a federally funded program established in 1972 to improve the supply, distribution, retention, and quality of primary care and other health practitioners in medically underserved areas. The program is part of a national effort to improve access to health services through changes in the education and training of health professionals.
Since 1991, Virginia AHECs have been instrumental in developing effective programs to address the health workforce needs of their communities. These include:
- Implementing health careers recruitment programs
- Identifying health workforce distribution issues
- Sponsoring continuing education programs
- Identifying career opportunities for students, displaced or unemployed adults
- Providing interpreter training services
- Connecting students with internships and preceptorships.
VIRGINIA AREA HEALTH
EDUCATION CENTERS (AHEC)
Through community-based interprofessional training programs, AHECs identify, motivate, recruit, train and retain a health care workforce committed to underserved populations.