Enhanced Area Health Education Centers Program
Director: Daniel S. Blumenthal, MD, MPH
Assistant Director: Meryl McNeal, PhD
The AHEC (Area Health Education Centers) Program is an umbrella for several related programs which together represent an AEnhanced AHEC Program. It is one of over forty AHEC Programs nationwide. Our program is a part of the Georgia Statewide AHEC Network which is funded through the Medical College of Georgia. AHEC provides educational opportunities for health sciences students and residents, continuing education for health professionals, recruitment programs for disadvantaged high school students, and consumer information for community residents.
Each community-based AHEC center is a coalition of hospitals, community colleges, nursing homes, and community health centers as well as local and state health departments and community groups. Founded in 1984, the Morehouse School of Medicine AHEC Program includes three centers: the Southeastern Primary Care Consortium (SPCC)/Atlanta AHEC serving metro Atlanta, the Tuskegee AHEC serving 19 rural counties in Alabama, and the Magnolia Coastlands AHEC serving 39 counties in rural southeast Georgia. A fourth center, the Southwest Georgia (SOWEGA) AHEC receives some federal funding through the MSM program.
The AHEC program gains in importance as community-based training becomes an ever more important part of education for medicine and other health professions.
Health Education and Training Centers Program
Staff: Mary K. Davis
The goals of the Health Education and Training Centers (HETC) Program are similar to those of the AHEC Program with the added dynamic of providing direct community organization and development through community empowerment and health promotion initiatives. The Program includes four urban sites in metro Atlanta, South Atlanta, Thomasville Heights, Chosewood Park and Lakewood Heights, and two rural sites, Hancock County and the combined area of Tattnall, Toombs and Candler counties in southeast Georgia. Active community coalition boards have been organized in the six program sites, and each has sought status as a non-profit community based organization. In response to identified community health problems, each coalition has developed and implemented specific interventions, e.g., support group, workshops, and community awareness activities involving participants from local law enforcement, various health department entities, local businesses, the Atlanta Housing Authority, and district politicians.
Public Health Summer Fellows Program
Staff: Clementine Rasheed
The Public Health Summer Fellows Program is a collaborative effort among Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory University’s School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Program combines training with field experiences using combined resources of the collaborating institutions. The academic training consists of an intense thirty-five hour course introducing the principles of epidemiology.
The course was taught by a MSM faculty member for the first time in the program’s ten year history during the summer of 1998. Each student received 2 hours of graduate credit for the course. Fifteen students (8 African American, 2 Hispanic, 3 Native American, 1 Asian and 1 African Chinese) successfully completed the program which included a six week practicum under the direction of mentors from the partnering institutions as well as the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health and Fulton County Health & Wellness Department.
The program culminated with formal presentations prepared by the Fellows describing their summer experiences and the submission of a final paper.
Clinical Services
Director: Sherry R. Crump, MD, MPH
Since 1997, the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine (CH/PM) at Morehouse School of Medicine has partnered with the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness (FCDHW) and Grady Health Systems (GHS) to provide primary health care to the underserved of northwest Atlanta. The Center Hill Health Center, staffed by Dr. Nicole Ash-Mapp, is the site for the delivery of these comprehensive health services. From July 1998 through June 1999, the Clinic provided 1,915 patient encounters. In the Fall of 1999, the partnership will be furthered by the staffing of the South Dekalb Health Center of Grady by an additional physician from the Department of CH/PM. The clinic is conveniently located in the pharmacy of a Decatur Kroger store and provides primary health care services to inhabitants of Southeast Atlanta.
Through its partnership with FCDHW and GHS, the Department of CH/PM plans to: 1) develop and implement a program for the delivery of clinical preventive services at the Center Hill and South Dekalb clinics by the year 2001; 2) double the number of patients seen at the Center Hill Health Clinic by 2002; 2) provide a formal health education program for patients at each center by the 2003; and 3) implement a program of community health outreach projects at these clinics by the year 2004. The department proposes to achieve these goals through various strategies which include performing health needs assessments at the clinic sites and within the communities served by these clinics, writing and submitting proposals for specific clinic-based and community-based health promotion and education interventions, and developing and implementing protocols for the delivery of clinic preventive services at each clinic site. The department proposes to double the number of patient encounters at the Center Hill Health Center through a variety of focused marketing efforts.
The new Travel Clinic, located at Morehouse Medical Associates at 75 Piedmont Avenue, provides medical advice, immunizations, malaria prophyllaxis, and other services to persons preparing to visit developing countries.
Health Promotion Resource Center
Director: Mary Langley, MPH, PhD
The Health Promotion Resource Center (HPRC) was established in 1987 with a grant from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Since then, it has partnered with communities throughout Georgia to address health problems identified locally. The HPRC pioneered the model known as Community Organization and Development for Health Promotion, which is a tool for community empowerment. Please also visit the West Central Georgia Practice Improvement Collaborative link at www.wcgpic.com
Parent Training Network Development Program
Funded by the Ford Foundation, this program sought to teach parents to teach parenting skills to their peers. It has been noted that many parents experience difficulty returning to their community after they completed parent training programs. This project taught survival and training skills. It was conduced in two rural and two urban sites in Georgia. The goal was to train approximately 500 parents after which a state-wide organization was to be formed to advocate the concerns of parents to state, county, and city elected officials. This statewide organization was established in 1997 by members of the Parent Training Network Development Program, with the purpose of providing training and support to parents. Parents shared information through the quarterly newsletter which was distributed to over 100 parents who participated in the network. This activity serves to reinforce the mission of the organization to support parents as they become the primary educators, nurturers and advocates for their children and communities. Parents in Columbus and Fort Gaines, Georgia continue to maintain partnerships with their local elementary schools and convene support group meetings on a monthly basis.
Collaborative Prevention Education Project (CPEP)
Funded in 1994 by the Federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, the Collaborative Preventive Education Project (CPEP) is a five-year high risk youth demonstration project focusing on sixth grade students, in two Georgia cities, Albany and Columbus. This project was designed to empower communities to effectively prevent alcohol, drug use/abuse and related violence among high risk youth.
Southwest Cooperative Regional Prevention Resource Center (SWCRPRC)
Under a contract with Regional Boards 14, 15 & 16 of the Georgia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse, the SWCRPRC provides substance abuse prevention services to communities situated in 40 counties in southwest Georgia. Located in Albany, the Center is operated by two full-time and one part-time staff members in addition to three staff members working on the Morehouse School of Medicine campus to provide risk-focused prevention training, technical assistance, and consultation.
The SWCRPRC conduced an evaluation of the Boys and Girls Club of Albany Gang Prevention Education Program. An instrument was developed to measure knowledge and activities of youth toward gangs based on four attitudinal levels of the program.
Prevention Research Center
The Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center (PRC) was established in 1998. The PRC is one of a network of 26 academic research centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to achieve local and national health objectives focused on gaining knowledge about the best methodologies for solving the nation's obstinate health problems. These centers engage in interdisciplinary applied prevention research in collaboration with community partners, federal, state, and local health and education agencies, and other universities. For additional information, please visit our website at www.msm.edu/prc |
