AHEC provides gas cards to support rural clinical rotations

The Western Regional Area Health Center (AHEC) is helping CHHS students get to clinical rotations in rural and underserved areas of Michigan.

AHEC purchased $1800 in gas cards to help physician assistant students who are on clinical rotations in rural areas where health care services are often difficult to access. These locations are 20 minutes to two hours away from WMU's main campus in Kalamazoo, which can present a tremendous financial burden on traveling students.

"One of our goals at AHEC is connecting health care students with underserved populations," said Lisa Brennan, executive director of the Western Regional AHEC, located in WMU's downtown Grand Rapids location. "The financial relief provided by these gas cards obviously helps the students, but it also helps deepen the relationship between the College of Health and Human Services and these smaller, rural communities in West Michigan."

The funds to purchase the gas cards came from a Health Resources and Service Administration grant through AHEC. The program aims to introduce students to clinical positions in rural areas in need of heath care professionals, in hopes that they may return to practice in these areas after graduating. Twelve WMU physician assistant students have participated in the program so far.

About AHEC

The Western Regional Area Health Education Center at Western Michigan University offers programs to enhance health care provider knowledge and to introduce health care careers to students. AHEC is administered by the College of Health and Human Services through the School of Interdisciplinary Health Programs. In April, AHEC and CHHS announced a new Health Sciences Summer Program to introduce CHHS programs to high school graduates from underserved communities in West Michigan.