|
|
San Joaquin Valley AHEC Background
 The San Joaquin Valley AHEC is located in Fresno,
the largest city in California's central valley. The service area covers
seven counties located in the San Joaquin Valley which recently has had
a population explosion fueled by immigration from Mexico, Southeast Asia
and Central America. This AHEC has expanded the local Family Practice
Residency Programs into pathways at two local community clinics: the
Selma Clinic and the Sequoia Community Clinic.
The San Joaquin Valley AHEC is also involved in a local Partnership for
Training grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. With
matching dollars from the AHEC, they have developed challenge
examinations for coursework for students who need to convert their work
experience to college credit toward a masters or bachelors degree. They
also sponsor courses taken by telecourse, the Internet or other distance
learning applications.
The University of California has decided to make
the Area Health Education Center Program an important part of its
strategy to increase the ratio of primary care-to-specialty training.
It has streamlined the organizational structure of the AHEC to avoid
diffusing scarce state and federal funds. University of California San
Francisco is the lead campus with seven other affiliated schools of
medicine partnering with community based organizations to form 10 AHEC
Centers. Currently, only eight are seeking Federal Model dollars.
Guidance to the program is given by a Statewide Program Advisory
Committee which is comprised of representatives of all Centers, medical
and osteopathic schools, consumers, providers and related agencies.
|
