Success Stories

Alexandria Neighborhood Health Services, Inc. (ANHSI) primary care physicians participate in Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Care Outcomes), an innovative specialty care model that uses telemedicine to train primary care providers to safely and effectively deliver specialty care to patients who otherwise are not able to see a specialist.

Germanna Community College is developing a new Dental Assistant II program to meet the growing demand for dental care, especially for Medicaid patients, in the service region—city of Fredericksburg and counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, Culpeper, Orange, King George, Caroline and Madison. The Dental Assistant II curriculum will then be made available to other colleges in the Virginia Community College System.

The Graduate Medical Education Consortium and Southwest Area Health Education Center (GMEC-AHEC) created a 15-week high school Health Career Explorers Program in Giles County and Floyd County. Each Explorers program introduces students to a wide variety of health professionals and educates students via hands-on activities and site visits to medical school labs, hospitals and other practice sites as available.

The Page County Technical Center is enhancing Virginia’s health care workforce pipeline by increasing student enrollment in the course “Introduction to Health and Medical Sciences” and the Program of Studies in EMT, LPN and CNA. The project also targets an additional health care Program of Studies in partnership with Valley Health Medical Corporation.

Northern Virginia Area Health Education Center (NV AHEC) in partnership with the Community Lodgings Youth Education Program created a pilot program, Project Health-4-All, which provides health career education, information and exposure to immigrant youth who express an interest in pursuing a health career or profession.

The Southside Health Education Foundation (SHEF) has develop a health careers pipeline program—Southside Health Careers Experiential Learning Program (Health-CEL)—for students from 16 to 20 years of age. Under the leadership of SHEF, area hospitals, health care providers, colleges and universities partner to support this 40+ hour program which provides students with experiential learning.

The VCU School of Dentistry is developing a model for dental and dental hygiene community service programs with underserved community partners and schools. The program educates dental professional students, patients and inner-city school students; increases oral health literacy; improves health outcomes; and ultimately increases the workforce for future dental professionals. The purpose of the program is to benefit underserved communities and inner-city school students with a shared mission of education and service in oral health. The program will increase oral health in these communities and awareness of oral health professions.

The Blue Ridge Area Health Education Center (BRAHEC) at James Madison University, in partnership with Rockingham Memorial Hospital (RMH), is creating a Youth and Diversity in Health Care Professions (YDHP) program to increase the diversity in Virginia’s health care workforce by focusing on middle and high school pipeline activities.