Programs and Services

• Clinical Education
• Continuing Education
• Allegany County Family Violence Council
• Exploring Careers in Health Occupations (ECHO)
• Interdisciplinary Education and Practice
• Learning Resource Services
• Community Network Partnership
• Geriatric Assessment Interdisciplinary Team (GAIT)
• Geriatrics and Gerontology Education and Research Program (GGEAR)
  
• Go directly to: Geriatric Information and Resources Website
• Youth Health Service Corps

Clinical Education

Health professions students in numerous disciplines from a variety of universities and colleges participate in the Western Maryland AHEC's Clinical Education program. Each student is matched with a preceptor in Western Maryland to experience health care in a rural area. Students also participate in an interdisciplinary program at the AHEC.

For more information, contact Terri Socha.

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Continuing Education

WMAHEC sponsors and co-sponsors numerous Continuing Education programs with its caucuses and academic partners.

We are direct providers of Continuing Education credits for both Social Work and Dental programs. We collaborate with other agencies for Psychology, Professional Counseling, Nursing, Nurse Practitioner, Dietetic, Pharmacy, Medical, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy to award credits to participants from these disciplines when possible.

The WMAHEC Continuing Education program strives to conduct affordable training within our community so that local health professionals don't always have to travel out of town for their Continuing Education needs.

For information about our continuing education programs, contact Joy Taylor.

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Allegany County Family Violence Council

The Allegany County Family Violence Council is a volunteer organization that brings together community leaders who are dedicated to ending family violence. The Council is working to develop a state of the art response to family violence in our community.

The mission of the Council is to significantly reduce the incidents of family and interpersonal violence by creating a coordinated community response which protects victims, holds offenders accountable, and offers treatment and education as a means of prevention.

For more information, contact Kristin Morton

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Exploring Careers in Health Occupations

Exploring Careers in Health Occupations (ECHO) is a WMAHEC program designed to recruit tomorrow's health professionals today. The purpose of ECHO is to provide high school students with educational support and job training skills to nurture an interest in health careers. Through educational programs in area schools, ECHO recruits high school students to attend its one-week, residential health professions programs. Participants spend a week living in a university residence hall where they are introduced to a wide variety of health careers by going behind the scenes of various healthcare settings and participating in hands-on, job-related experiences. Health professionals interact with students to teach them about health careers and the educational requirements that lead to professional certifications or college degrees. Students also receive information on what they can do to prepare for these careers. Students who complete this one week program are invited to participate in a more in-depth look at health careers during a week-long session the following summer. During the third summer, students are linked with area health care providers for a job shadowing experience.

For more information, contact Scottie Samples

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Interdisciplinary Education and Practice

The AHEC offers several Interdisciplinary Training opportunities for health professions students. Rural Interdisciplinary Health Promotion offers online interdisciplinary modules at http://www.allconet.org/ahec/rihp. The Geriatric Assessment Interdisciplinary Team (GAIT) project offers rotations for health professions students at community-based geriatric settings.

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Learning Resource Services

Staff in the Learning Resource Center assist area students and professionals with literature searches, interlibrary loans, and providing resource material. The LRC also offers Internet and PubMed training.

For information about the LRC, contact Michele Beaulieu.

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Community Network Partnership

WMAHEC is the Western Maryland partner in the Maryland Regional CNP Program to Eliminate Cancer Health Disparities, a University of Maryland School of Medicine grant program. Through CNP, WMAHEC works to help eliminate cancer health disparities in Western Maryland by conducting community-based particpatory education, training, and research among racial/ethnic minorities and underserved populations.

For information about the CNP, contact Michele Beaulieu.

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Geriatric Assessment Interdisciplinary Team (G.A.I.T.)

G.A.I.T. projects provide students a clinical training experience that includes the principles of interdisciplinary care, health care team skills, interdisciplinary geriatric assessment of those site clients, and presentation and discussionof student team care plans. GAIT projects are funded by a University System of Maryland Redeployment Grant to the Geriatrics and Gerontology Education and Research (GGEAR) program at UMB.

For more information, contact Terri Socha.

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Geriatrics and Gerontology Education and Research Program (GGEAR)

The Geriatrics and Gerontology Education and Research Program of the University of Maryland funds the following programs:

• Professional Education Mini-Grants. Through a competitive process, small grants are awarded to organizations, geriatric care facilities, and health professions caucuses interested in organizing interprofessional, educational programs addressing an issue in geriatrics and gerontology.  For more information, contact Terri Socha, Ext. 107.
• Intergenerational Programming. WMAHEC develops and implements ntergenerational activities to incorporate into exciting programs. 
• Our Geriatric Information and Resources Website includes two indexed categories of resources (consumer related and provider related resources) pertaining to geriatric health issues that may be faced by the population of Western Maryland.

For information, contact Terri Socha.

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Youth Health Service Corps

The Youth Health Service Corps is an award winning health career recruitment program that trains and places diverse high school students as volunteers in health care agencies. Students fill a community need for volunteer service while acquiring real life learning experience under the guidance of professional health care role models.

For information, contact Scottie Samples.

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