Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center (R-AHEC) is excited to celebrate it’s 20 years of commitment to helping transform the healthcare workforce in Western New York. R-AHEC was formed in 1999 as the first AHEC center in New York. We serve a 12-county region in Western New York. Our mission is “to improve health and healthcare through education.” R-AHEC was formally established on July 6, 1999 and recently celebrated it’s 20th Anniversary.
The federal Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program was established in 1973 as a way to encourage medical schools to increase the number of students and residents trained in rural communities. The AHEC program is housed in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
R-AHEC is one of nine centers that make up the New York State Area Health Education Center system, which was established in 1998 and is a state and federally funded workforce development initiative.
Over the years, R-AHEC has developed four main focuses; Health Workforce Development; Preceptor Development/Student Housing; Pipeline Programming; and Rural Healthcare Technology Infrastructure Development. In addition, R-AHEC operates the Western NY Rural Broadband Healthcare Network (RBHN), providing subsidies to non-profit healthcare facilities through a point-to-point fiber optic network. For more information, visit our website at: www.r-ahec.org/
Stay tuned for more information about exciting events and opportunities to help us celebrate our 20 years of impact to the Western New York community.
