UP Regional Center AHEC Designs "Rural Health Career Kits" for High School Students
The Upper Peninsula Regional Center AHEC recently completed a program initiative that sent 300 Rural Health Career Kits to 65 high schools around the UP. The idea was to come up with a simple program that was easily accessible to all high school students in the UP, therefore getting more information on the health professions into the high schools. The kits contain information in five different health fields: nursing, pre-professional (MD/PA), dental, clinical sciences and social work. Students have to fill out an AHEC pre-program survey in order to receive a kit, and they will receive follow-up to determine if they follow their health profession interest and practice in a rural area. High school counselors will be offering the kits to those interested, and will ensure program registrations are completed and sent back to UP-AHEC. Information in the kits relates to that profession and may consist of:
- Curriculum cards
- Future outlook of profession salaries, need, specialty areas
- Continuing education requirements
- Scholarship and application info to schools in Michigan
- UP-AHEC swag a pen, notebook or other item
- Contact information if students need more follow-up or have additional questions
High schools can request more kits from UPRC AHEC at any time, and plans are for this program to run continuously each year. Funding for the kits is provided through a combination of local grants and UPRC AHEC funds.
Picture: Cindy Noble, Executive Director, and Lisa Hyde, Secretary, of UP-AHEC get ready to ship 300 Rural Health Career Kits to UP high schools.