Headquarters Office
7044 S. 13th Street
Oak Creek, WI 53154
Tel: (414) 908-4953
(888) 412-7424
Fax: (414) 768-8001
www.nationalahec.org
[email protected]
The National AHEC Organization represents a network of more than 300 AHEC program offices and centers that
serve over 85% of United States counties. The NAO mission is to help its members achieve the AHEC mission
through advocacy, education, and research. The AHEC mission is to enhance access to quality health care,
particularly primary and preventive care, by improving the supply and distribution of healthcare professionals via
strategic partnerships with academic programs, communities, and professional organizations.
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION
For more information contact:
Robert M. Trachtenberg, CEO
National AHEC Organization
401-248-4837 / [email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-trachtenberg-136b60
Awards go to Teen Health Information Literacy Projects
Area Health Education Centers will use National Library of Medicine funds for youth development
OAK CREEK, WI, October 28, 2016 – The National Area Health Education Centers (AHEC)
Organization has announced three of its member AHEC organizations will participate in the
second year phase of a health information literacy initiative funded with $150,000 from the
National Library of Medicine (NLM). Projects will address youth empowerment through health
information skills and social action projects. The initiative is based on a growing recognition that
the ability to find, interpret, and use reliable sources of health information has a direct impact on
an individual’s health throughout their lifetime.
The multi-center award approach is designed to test implementation of Project SHARE,
Student Health Advocates Redefining Empowerment, across varying community contexts. Project
SHARE is a previously funded NLM curriculum developed at the University of Maryland/Baltimore.
The curriculum encourages health communication, action, leadership and evidence-based
-MORE-
PAGE 2 – TEEN HEALTH INFORMATION AWARDS
knowledge acquisition at individual, family, and community levels.
A key project partner, John Scott with the Center for Public Service Communications (CPSC),
will assist awardees in rolling out the projects. The CPSC has been involved in high-school based
NLM activities for over a decade in South Carolina. From those experiences, a primary project
component has been adopted. Project SHARE students will incorporate an over-arching social
action project that, while not part of the original curriculum, has been shown to build enthusiasm
and commitment to project learning in students of the South Carolina programs. New AHEC
awardees will combine program elements to make an engaging experience for students.
Robert Trachtenberg, CEO of National AHEC Organization, emphasized the importance of
these type of initiatives to the AHEC network. “Our national training center works to enhance the
training and technical assistance capacity of nearly 300 AHEC programs and centers nationally.
Especially now, as we seek to grow the distribution and diversity of health professionals nationally,
these project are an important part of the health careers pipeline that expose students to medical
and allied health professions; a common goal of NAO and NLM.” Awardee AHECs will incorporate
health professions shadowing, mentoring and expertise throughout the project and are working
with inner city young men, and Native American tribal youth. The three awardees are: Atlanta
AHEC (The Southeast Primary Care Consortium), Eastern Connecticut AHEC, and Southeast
Pennsylvania AHEC.
###
For more about the National AHEC Organization: www.nationalahec.org
For more about Project SHARE: http://guides.hshsl.umaryland.edu/projectshare