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Northeastern Wisconsin Area Health Education Center |
| NEWAHEC | Connecting Students to Careers, Professionals to Communities, and Communities to Better Health |
      
    
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| History of AHEC and NEWAHEC | ||||
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National AHEC System Realizing a need to address the shortage of primary care physicians and the inadequate distribution of health professionals, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education recommended the establishment of Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) in 1970. These centers were to be linked with university health science centers in an effort to improve access to health care in rural and inner city areas. As a result, the national AHEC program was established in 1972, with the purpose of improving the supply, distribution, retention, and quality of health professionals available to provide primary care services in medically underserved areas. More than 30 states developed AHEC programs within the first 20 years that followed. Wisconsin AHEC A task force on rural education, convened in 1987, recommended establishment of an AHEC system in Wisconsin. The recommendation of this task force was approved by the House of Delegates at their annual meeting in 1988. In a joint effort, the University of WI Medical School in Madison and the Medical College of WI in Milwaukee completed an AHEC planning agreement in May of 1990. As part of the planning process, a Statewide Program Advisory Committee (SPAC) was formed, which assured representation from a broad source of concerned professionals in the planning. An application for federal support of the Wisconsin AHEC system was submitted to the federal Department of Health and Human Services on November 8, 1990. Federal funding to establish an AHEC system in Wisconsin was awarded in April 1991, by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). These Federal Core AHEC funds supported the Wisconsin AHEC project from October 1991 through September 1999. It is now supported through an allocation in the State of Wisconsin budget, smaller federal and private foundation grants and membership and services fees, as well as the substantial contributions of its academic and community partners in developing and maintaining community training sites. Wisconsin’s Four AHEC Centers During the first three years of the program, Wisconsin AHEC developed four Centers encompassing the entire state: one single-county urban Center (Milwaukee AHEC) and three Centers with a mix of urban and rural populations (Northern WI AHEC, Southwest WI AHEC and Eastern WI AHEC). In 1998, the four regional Centers approved by-laws to create a statewide organization, including representation from each Center, the academic partners, and state and community organizations. In partnership with the UW Medical School (UWMS), the board of directors of Wisconsin AHEC provides oversight of statewide AHEC activities, including distribution of funds to the Centers. UWMS provides space and administrative staff for the Statewide AHEC Program Office on the UW-Madison campus. Eastern/Northeastern Wisconsin AHEC Eastern WI AHEC originally served fifteen counties in eastern Wisconsin, from the Illinois border to Door County. Its office was originally located on the campus of UW-Parkside in Kenosha; then moved to the Columbia St. Mary’s hospital campus and shared space with Milwaukee AHEC in 2001. In early 2003, the Wisconsin AHEC system re-evaluated the geographical makeup of its four regional Centers. The result was a redistribution of counties into the current configuration (See map below). The biggest geographic changes were to the Milwaukee AHEC and Eastern WI AHEC. With Milwaukee AHEC now encompassing the southeastern counties, the name “Eastern” WI AHEC no longer fit. To reflect its new geographic area, Eastern WI AHEC changed its name to Northeastern WI AHEC (NEWAHEC). In addition, NEWAHEC’s office was moved from Milwaukee to its current location in Manitowoc. |
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Northeastern WI Area Health Education Center |