University of Florida
North Florida AHEC Program
Extending Academic Resources
The North Florida AHEC Program leverages the resources of the academic health center and other educational institutions to improve access to health-care services in medically underserved communities. Faculty and health professions students who engage in AHEC-coordinated training at community-based clinics and medical practices produce new and enhanced patient services through AHEC's academic extension programs. Working with preceptors and/or faculty supervisors, students also conduct a wide array of community health projects that local health-care facilities otherwise would not have the resources to pursue.
EXTRAMURAL DENTAL STUDENT EDUCATION
Begun several years ago as a one-day experience for senior dental students at the Alachua County Organization for Rural Needs (ACORN) Clinic in Brooker, the North Florida AHEC Program's extramural dental education programs have expanded since 1996 to include rotations of up to two weeks at sites in Apopka, Brooker, Bradenton, Jacksonville and Winter Garden. During 1997-98, the AHECs facilitated 6,894 hours of community-based education for UF dental students under the supervision of adjunct dental faculty at community clinics serving low-income patients. At the ACORN Clinic alone, dental students had 1,682 patient encounters. Among the services students performed were 40 complete dentures, 30 partial dentures, 34 crowns, 250 amalgam restorations, three root canals and 96 extractions, including four surgical extractions.COMMUNITY HEALTH SCHOLARS
Each summer, health professions students engage in community and public health projects developed by the AHECs in partnership with local health-care providers. UF faculty provide the students with the support needed to design, implement and evaluate these projects, which have addressed issues such as geriatric care, diabetes education, AIDS outreach and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
CLINICAL PHARMACY CLERKSHIPS
Since 1993, undergraduate and graduat
e
pharmacy students from Florida A&M University have completed their ambulatory
pharmacy education at AHEC clinical sites. In 1995, UF
graduate pharmacy students began ambulatory care clerkships and research
rotations in Brooker and Fanning Springs. Most recently, these clerkships
and rotations have been expanded to the Community Health Center at Eastside
in Gainesville. At the UF training sites an AHEC pharmacist provides disease
management programs in diabetes, hyperlipidemia and anti-coagulation monitoring,
as well as consultations with other providers, in an interdisciplinary model.
The AHEC pharmacy program also has assisted in obtaining more than $200,000
worth of medications from pharmaceutical programs for the indigent. During
1997-98, students completed more than 19,091 pharmacy service/learning hours
at these community sites.
RURAL HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAM
UF psychologists are developing new ways to provide clinical psychology services to rural residents, two-thirds of whom live in areas with a shortage of psychological and psychiatric services. The innovative Rural Health Psychology Program, conducted jointly by AHEC, the UF Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences' Cooperative Extension Service, has brought an extensive array of behavioral and mental health services to county health departments in Levy and Hamilton counties and to Lake Shore Hospital in Columbia County. UF clinical psychology faculty and interns offer provider consultations, patient care and patient education through the program, which presents a unique opportunity for students to participate in providing behavioral health services in a nontraditional setting. During 1997-98, this educational outreach initiative resulted in 850 patient-care visits.PEDIATRIC SERVICES NETWORK
For the past six years, the North Florida AHEC Program has supported the UF Department of Pediatrics' efforts to provide pediatric care at county health departments in Alachua, Marion, Hamilton, Levy, Suwannee and Bradford counties. Faculty conduct special clinics at these county health department facilities each week, accompanied by pediatric residents and third-year medical students. This service/learning model has provided critically needed consultation and patient-care activities to meet the seemingly endless demand for pediatric service in rural north Florida.Suwannee River AHEC: Rural Dental Hygiene Training
In partnership with Santa Fe Community College, AHEC has opened new clinical and community health education experiences to dental hygiene students while increasing the services available to rural residents in the Suwannee River service area. SFCC dental hygiene students have served about 400 children at the Family Medical and Dental Center in Palatka and more than 1,000 adults and children at the Alachua County Organization for Rural Needs (ACORN) Clinic in Brooker. Services include debridements, polishing, fluoride, x-rays, oral hygiene education and sealants. Students also have provided dental health education to 430 students in five rural elementary schools and one middle school and performed Healthy Start dental screenings for about 100 students in Levy and Gilchrist counties. In addition, students provided dental hygiene care to 50 nursing home residents and taught 81 certified nursing assistants at six area nursing homes how to care for residents' teeth.Big Bend AHEC: Diagnosing ADHD in Rural Students
For four consecutive summers, UF medical students and faculty have worked with Dr. Jerry Boland, director of the Taylor County Health Department, on a program for the diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among children in Taylor County Public Schools. The medical students have developed a database for tracking these children and have helped establish a support group for parents of children with ADHD. The project has served 80 students and has proven so successful, it earned national recognition with an award from the National Rural Health Association. "I applaud AHEC's contributions to the health of Taylor County and look forward to a continuing partnership with AHEC," Boland said.West Florida AHEC: Sharps Disposal Project
Although medical facilities have to follow strict codes regarding the disposal of sharps (objects such as needles and scalpel blades), the Walton County Health Department was concerned about the at-home disposal of sharps by people needing injections for diabetes, vitamin B-12 deficiency, hormonal therapy and other health problems. Improper sharps disposal can expose the public to blood-borne pathogens, posing a serious health threat. Through the Community Health Scholars Program, AHEC assigned UF medical student Jon Ward, a Walton County native, to assess the problem of sharps disposal in the county and develop and implement a county-wide disposal plan. Ward developed a proposal for a sharps education and disposal program and took it before the Walton County Board of County Commissioners, which approved and funded the plan. Sharps pick-up and drop-off sites have since been established at pharmacies, physicians' offices and the hospital, and brochures have been developed and distributed to educate the public as to the proper handling of sharps.Northeast Florida AHEC: Dental Care for the Homeless
The Sulzbacher Center Dental Clinic opened at the Jacksonville Salvation Army in January 1997 and has since served 2,898 patients. A broad-based community partnership involving AHEC, the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless, the Dental Program at Florida Community College and the Salvation Army brought the clinic into being and continues to make its operation possible. In addition to a full-time dentist and part-time dental hygienist, dental assistant and support staff, the clinic utilizes the services of Florida Community College dental assisting and dental hygiene students, who perform 80 percent of the dental cleanings done at the clinic. Together, staff and students provided about $300,000 worth of dental services to the homeless in 1997.
