Northeast Kentucky AHEC Staffers Present at National Conference

Four Northeast Kentucky AHEC staff members participated in presentations during the recent National AHEC Organization Biennial Conference, which was held virtually for the first time. The event attracted more than 700 registrants.

On June 30, NE KY AHEC Director David A. Gross was joined by South Central KY AHEC Director Catherine Malin and Northwest KY AHEC Director Brenda Fitzpatrick for “Development of a Statewide, AHEC-administered Pre-med Prep Project.” They described how the initiative was funded, how it has been delivered, and how data have been tracked during the first three years of the project.

That same day, Health Careers Coordinator Kirsten Morant co-presented a breakout session titled “A Partnership for Growth: Princeton Review Prep for Post-Secondary and Graduate Success.” The Princeton Review is able to provide participating AHEC members with exclusive test prep offers, effectively lowering the bar to access for all. During the breakout session, Morant shared how the NE KY AHEC uses the prep programming within its pipeline program, STEPS (Successfully Training and Educating Pre-medical Students), to help students prepare to take the Medical College Admission Test.

On July 2, Outreach Services Coordinator KaLeigh Hemminger, Assistant Center Director KaSandra Hensley, and Gross presented “An Update on How a Regional AHEC is Leading a Multi-Partner, Multi-Project Battle Against the Opioid Epidemic.” This session provided an overview of the six federally funded grant projects that have been awarded to the Northeast Kentucky Substance Use Response Coalition, which was spearheaded and is staffed by the NE KY AHEC. This kind of grant work is outside the scope of what most AHECs normally do, so the presentation helped other AHECs to see why these different sorts of projects are important not just to the regions they serve, but also internally for professional growth and financial stability.

# # #

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact KaLeigh Hemminger at 606.783.6506 or via e-mail at kaleigh.hemminger@st-claire.org.