The Central Illinois Area Health Education Center (AHEC), housed at Illinois State University, received $564,386 in federal grant money from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to improve healthcare for rural and underserved populations.
“AHEC creates opportunities for professionals and students to connect and create solutions to healthcare challenges,” said Sharon Mills, who served as the Central Illinois AHEC director, retiring January 1, 2023, after 30 years at Illinois State. “The program helps to build future leaders in healthcare and increase their cultural competency to serve in the areas where they are needed the most.”
The Central Illinois AHEC comprises a 16-county region, including Christian, DeWitt, Logan, Macon, Marshall, McLean, Macoupin, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Peoria, Piatt, Sangamon, Tazewell, and Woodford counties. It is one of nine centers in the Illinois AHEC Network Program administered through the National Center for Rural Health Professions.
“With this new grant cycle, I am excited to continue AHEC’s work across the Central Illinois region,” said Rachel Benn, the incoming Central Illinois AHEC director. “It is a wonderful opportunity to build on existing partnerships and continue to promote engagement between our communities and our future health professionals.”
The five-year grant will help support the Illinois AHEC Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary extracurricular program for health professions students. The program includes self-paced learning and experiences in healthcare and communities, such as job shadowing, a community service-learning project, and career coaching. “The Scholars Program allows students to engage with working professionals and learn to approach problems that face populations that are underserved,” said Mills, who has worked with more than 20 students in the program since 2020. In addition, more than 60 students have received health professions student training awards since 2014.
The Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seeks to increase diversity among health professionals, broaden the distribution of the health workforce, enhance health care quality, and improve health care delivery to rural and underserved areas and populations.
