Eastern Campus

Mission

Central to the mission of the Eastern Area Health Education Center is service to the community. These services are provided in two ways:

  1. The provision of service to the community via AHEC faculty and trainees. 

  2. The provision of education to the community via community-based outreach education. The Eastern AHEC's mission of service and education complements West Virginia University's land-grant mission of services to the state.

The Eastern AHEC... Building Better Communities

The Area Health Education Center system in West Virginia complements a variety of on-going training efforts to improve the chronic problem of misdistribution of health care providers throughout the state. We will develop five regional area health education centers. Each having the unique mission of graduate medical and health professions education. This the Eastern AHEC will be the first of the five AHEC’s to become operational. The following objectives will be utilized by all five AHEC’s allowing for regional variations, to establish their educational programs:

  • Objective (1) Incorporate non-profit regional area health education center to coordinate, supplement, and focus graduate health professions education to enhance community recruitment and retention of primary care providers. 

  • Objective (2) Strengthen rural faculty by linking existing primary care residency programs with RHEP sites where medical and other health science students are trained. 

  • Objective (3) Integrate graduate-level interdisciplinary team “block” rotations (8 weeks) dealing with issues, clinical and community, typical of rural primary care practice. 

  • Objective (4) Adapt distance and adult learning concepts, technology, and library support systems to maintain knowledge and skills among rural providers, faculty, and consumers through continuing education. 

  • Objective (5) Expand an existing health careers program (HSTA) for underrepresented and disadvantaged students statewide by establishing an AHEC-piece of the career path from high school to primary care residency and to rural primary care practice. 

  • Objective (6) Focus upon recruitment and retention efforts at the community level by directing all AHEC learning activities to increase the probabilities of successfully recruiting and retaining providers in underserved areas.