Attendees at the AHEC breakfast event
With guests from higher education and business communities throughout West Michigan, Dean Earlie M. Washington gave a keynote address at a breakfast event for the Western Regional Area Health Education Center. The event marked the launch of the new Health Sciences Summer Program at the College of Health and Human Services.
Dean Washington’s message focused on addressing the lack of health care providers in medically underserved communities through higher education. "AHEC is a key part of the process," she said. "It provides support at every link of the educational pipeline. The goal isn’t diversity just for diversity’s sake; the goal is to look at these underserved communities, and work to ensure that those who are serving in them – and across the state – are reflective of the people who live in them."
Dean Washington underlined the important roles that the private and public sectors have to play in changing the reality of poor health in communities across our state. Academic institutions are necessarily responsible for preparing health care professionals skilled to address the needs of underserved communities. The private sector also bears a responsibility in providing jobs for these professionals after graduation.
Answering that call, WMU’s College of Health and Human Services will work with AHEC to launch its Health Sciences Summer Program. Using AHEC's 19-county catchment area, the plan is to recruit and enroll 20 high school seniors, bring them to WMU’s Kalamazoo campus over the summer with an opportunity to jumpstart their academic careers, earning 12 credit hours toward CHHS degrees.
The second year, the college will recruit 20 juniors in addition to 20 seniors.
Dean Washington shared her own story, growing up in Mississippi and attending a pre-college program like the one she's proposed. "It introduced us to higher education. The program was geared to show us how to give back to the communities and systems that supported us."
One major challenge associated with the initiative is funding.
"We have to raise money to fund scholarships for these students to make this possible," said Dean Washington. "And then we'll look for support and funds for scholarships to cover some of their costs as they continue with their matriculation."
Because the success of AHEC lies in multiple relationships in the community, the dean called on breakfast attendees to become more involved with the organization. "If you haven’t partnered with AHEC to see how you can help make a difference in underserved communities in this region," she said, "I hope you will."
Dean Washington closed by praising the Western Regional Center for the work it's done since its inception. "And I look forward to the good work that they’ll do in the future."