CMU to aid Wayne State in formation of Area Health Education Center
Central Michigan University is sharing a $900,000 grant with Wayne State University to set up an Area Health Education Center serving 19 mid-Michigan counties.
The center is one of five planned for different areas of the state to provide health care resources and education.
The two-year grant is setting up an AHEC program in the Detroit area this year. CMU will begin work on the mid-Michigan center in the second year of the grant, beginning Sept. 1, 2011. Its location has not been determined.
“The idea is to stimulate understanding and development of health professions in the region,” said Chris Ingersoll, dean of the College of Health Professions.
Monika Wierzbicki, director of external operation for WSU’s College of Nursing, said CMU will act as a liaison to the 19-county region. Determining the location of the center, she said, will be apart of the community engagement process, which CMU will facilitate.
CMU will allocate some money to the establishment of the center, which will be matched by the grant, Ingersoll said.
Ingersoll said some of the money will come from the colleges of Health Professions and Medicine, although he was unsure of the exact amount. After the center is established, it will have to secure its own sources of funding and function without financial assistance from CMU.
The mid-Michigan AHEC will work to improve health care in under-served rural areas, Ingersoll said. This will include serving as a resource center and community board.
The center will also focus on improving vocational education and primary care in mid-Michigan.
Wierzbicki said the center will first put together a health assessment and determine priorities in the region.
“For the current health professions workforce, the center will address their needs and any barriers they’re facing,” she said.
It will provide continuing education for health professionals and work to get students interested in pursuing a health-related career, Wierzbicki said.
“A big part of the program is K-12 outreach,” she said. “We want to identify disadvantaged students and get them interested in health professions.”
The center will also be a resource for CMU students, where they can learn with other students in different disciplines and get connected to other resources outside of the university, she said.
Other centers are planned to serve the northern lower peninsula, west Michigan and the upper peninsula.
