History
Since 1996, the South Central AHEC has worked with area school districts, college, universities and regional community based partners to increase the capacity of the communities to address the unmet and disparate health needs of their citizens through educational intervention. It has always been our objective to ensure diversity in the health care workforce by collaborating with agencies and organizations to provide interdisciplinary training, continuing education and educational opportunities to health professions students, faculty and health providers throughout the south central region of Texas.
Mission
The mission of the South Central AHEC is to improve access to quality health care through facilitation of community-based health professions training programs and initiatives.
Region
The South Central AHEC lies in the “heart” of Texas and its work addresses health care education needs in the following 12 counties:
- Atascosa
- Bandera
- Bexar
- Comal
- Frio
- Gillespie
- Guadalupe
- Karnes
- Kendall
- Kerr
- Medina
- Wilson
Mailing Address:
- The University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio
- 4201 Medical Dr., Box 126, Ste.360
- San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900
Phone Numbers:
- Phone: (210) 567-7818 • Campus:
7-7818
- Fax: (210) 567-7823
• Campus 7-7823
Paula Winkler, M.Ed.
winklerp@uthscsa.edu
Center Director
Phone: (210) 567-7824 (campus: 7-7824)
Rahma Mungia, BDS, MSc, DDPHRCS
mungia@uthscsa.edu
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry
Phone: (210) 567-7809 (campus: 7-7809)
Veronica Villela Perez
villelav@uthscsa.edu
Project Coordinator
Phone: (210) 567-7856 (campus: 7-7856)
The Center sponsors several activities and initiatives focused on the needs identified by community and academic partners.
This core AHEC function refers to sets of programs and initiatives that respond to the need for increased access/decreased barriers to health care information, education and services for the constituencies served by the South Central AHEC Center.
AHEC Interdisciplinary Fellowship on Developmental Disabilities – Six UTHSCSA students participate in this interdisciplinary research fellowship which assesses the extent of “the continuity of care problem” for adults with developmental disabilities in San Antonio and report on the Policy/System, Care and Economic issues that decrease access and increase health disparities for this population. The focus is on the entire population, but gives specific emphasis to Hispanic adults in the community. The students represent the College of Pharmacy, School of Health Professions and the School of Medicine.
Student Run Clinics – Humanism Longitudinal Elective, School of Medicine – Led by Dr. Richard Usatine of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, medical students participate in this longitudinal elective rotation that provides primary care services to underserved populations in San Antonio. Student-run, faculty-supervised clinics in San Antonio's Alpha Home, San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries and Seton Home provide basic but much-needed healthcare services to people who struggle simply to survive. Volunteering at the student clinic provides an opportunity for all four classes of medical students to interact and learn from each other. http://www.studentrunclinics.org/
Family Medicine Grand Rounds – Grand Rounds is a weekly CME program that is directed by the Department of Family & Community Medicine in partnership with the South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Grand Rounds is presented live every Friday at UT Health Science at San Antonio, School of Medicine, Room 309L from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Participants can also watch LIVE ONLINE or from one of our videoconference locations. Most presentations are also available for CME credit. To view an archived presentation online for CME, participants must first log on through the CME portal. http://familymed.uthscsa.edu/grandrounds08/index_gr.asp
Pharmacotherapy Grand Rounds – Pharmacotherapy Rounds is a weekly program that is directed by the Pharmacotherapy Division of The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy and the Pharmacotherapy Education and Research Center (PERC) of The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio School of Medicine in partnership with the South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC). The mission of the Rounds is to provide pharmacists and other health care providers in South-Central Texas with evidence-based and patient-center instruction they can use to prevent disease and improve the care they deliver to their individual patients, families and communities. Pharmacotherapy Rounds is presented every Friday at The University of Texas Health Science at San Antonio, McDermott Building, Room 2.108 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. These presentations are also broadcast to The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy and Scott & White in Temple. www.utexas.edu/pharmacy/divisions/pharmaco/rounds.html
This core function refers to those projects and activities that translate community-based research into community-based educational outreach programs.
The South Central AHEC participates in the Community Engagement Key Function Group of the CTSA project within the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science. The South Central AHEC participates as a collaborator to translational research studies move basic science discovery to patient-based applications and then out into clinical practice with the ultimate goal of human health improvement.
CTSA Supplement- Using Community Health Priorities to Improve Health Science Education is the name of the supplement funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) CTSA initiative. Partnered with the Teacher Enrichment Initiative of the Health Science Center, the South Central AHEC will recruit 5 science or math teachers from the region to participate in a two year program of study during the summer. The primary goals of this administrative supplement are to use community health priorities to identify curricular needs, create novel teaching materials to address those needs, and effectively improve health science education in public schools. Specifically, the health priorities will form the basis for new teaching materials that provide instruction focused on (a) community health needs per se, and (b) the scientific processes of community health assessments and community-based research.
The South Central AHEC partners with the Practice Based Research Networks, South Texas Ambulatory Research Network, and South Texas Oral Health Network to provide continuing education and community based research projects to the region. The South Central AHEC assists in recruiting providers as preceptors for UTHSCSA students and this continued support of PBRN activities assists in retention of those providers.
These educational outreach projects and programs are designed to increase health literacy and consumer education of the Center’s service area:
Movimiento Now! – The Movimiento is a forum to promote a healthier San Antonio through dialogue, understanding, and action for community health. The forum seeks broad-based participation from people who believe that progress is possible if communities organize themselves to tackle their health problems.
Smoking Cessation Project - Partnered with Metro Health, Texas Diabetes Institute, American Cancer Society and University Health Systems the South Central AHEC increases awareness among health professionals, health professions students, worksites and community based organizations of the hazards of smoking and the benefits of cessation.
Community Medicine Block, Family Medicine Residency Program – 2nd year family medicine residents rotate through community based organizations that are affiliated with South Central AHEC. The residents provide home visits to perform annual physicals to adults with developmental disabilities who seek independent living opportunities. Additionally, the residents provide a day long educational monthly outreach effort to the Good Samaritan Center in San Antonio.
For more information on any of the above programs, contact South Central AHEC at 210-567-7818.
The Center partners with health professions educational programs to sponsor and implement several health career opportunity programs focused on the needs of students and the health workforce.
Enrichment Programs:
This initiative focuses on providing enrichment opportunities in the areas of math and science for student’s 9th -12th grade.
- AHEC Forensic Toxicology Camp- A week-long summer program in partnership with the UT Health Science Center, School of Health Professions designed to introduce students to a career in Clinical Lab Science and enrich their knowledge in science needed to succeed in a career in the health professions.
- Sports Medicine Camp: A one-week summer program in partnership with the UT Health Science Center, School of Health Professions designed to engage students through hands-on learning and teach them the skills and knowledge needed in a career in sports medicine.
- Public Health Camp:
A one-week summer program in partnership with the UT School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus, designed to engage students through hands-on learning and teach them the skills and knowledge needed for a career in Public Health.
Health Career Promotion Programs:
South Central AHEC staff provide health and science career promotion information to classrooms and sponsor activities and events for students K-16.
- Career Fairs/Classroom Presentations: Include programs to broaden college students’ knowledge about health professions education programs and works to inform them of two, four-year or upper division educational degree opportunities in a broad scope of careers. Activities can include career days and presentations at colleges and universities. For more information call the South Central AHEC (210) 567-7818.
- Teen Medical Academy: A 10-month youth development program to educate and engage high school students through hands-on learning about various skills needed in a career in the health professions. For more information, visit this website: http://familymed.uthscsa.edu/residency08/teenmedacademy.asp
Internships:
- Texas A&M University- College Station & The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Community Health Interns: The South Central AHEC is a partner with both Texas A&M and UTSA to provide senior students majoring in Community Health an opportunity to participate in a community based internship. This internship provides students the chance to apply what they have learned during their undergraduate studies in a work setting.
Frio County Diabetes Initiative Community Forum set for February 9, 2012!
The Frio County Translational Advisory Board (TAB) has scheduled their strategic planning forum at Pearsall High School in Frio County for 5:30 – 7 PM. The Forum will focus on establishing a community wide effort to address the prevention and effective management of diabetes within the Frio County community. This project is partnered with South Central AHEC and a component of an ongoing effort to improve community health through community based participation with research.
South Central AHEC and Workforce Solutions Alamo I-35 Sciences Consortium: South Central AHEC and the Workforce Solutions Alamo have partnered to support and participate with Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area and Workforce Solutions Capital Area on the Life Sciences Industry Audit and Gap Analysis. In the face of the ”Great Recession” that has crippled so many economic sectors nation and statewide, the life sciences continue to thrive along the I-35 corridor. Job growth projections in core health care, biotech & bio science, and related services will grow faster than the job market as a whole within the next three years. As a health workforce development agency, AHEC must assist the growing industries to recruit the needed workforce to assure that the jobs are filled. Skilled health care and bioscience occupations are the fastest growing segment of the life sciences cluster. AHEC will work to develop strategies that will focus on working with colleges and universities to instill the following in their student programs: 1) a strong core of business and management, education and training, and health services knowledge, 2) a foundation of basic skills and social skills and 3) a core of verbal, idea generation and reasoning abilities. We look forward to providing more information on this topic at the AHEC Summit, set for fall, 2011 in San Antonio.
Clinical Translational Science Award Community Engagement Supplement:South Central AHEC and the Teacher Enrichment Initiative (TEI) of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have partnered on an NIH supplement grant to develop and implement the “Institute for Integration of Medicine & Science: A Partnership to Improve Health.” The program is designed to increase the knowledge of middle and high school science teachers to integrate community assessment tools into their classes so that science students may have more opportunities to assess and act upon the health status of their communities through programming, events and other creative media such as marketing. Five teachers from the south central region have been recruited to the program for a two year period. Dr. Michael Lichtenstein, MD MSc of the TEI is the Principal Investigator for the project and Paula Winkler of the South Central AHEC is a Co-investigator.