Eight Virginia health clinics are now getting federal money to provide medical students with hands-on training in underserved areas, helping guide their careers.
Those sites include the Bradley Free Clinic, providing medical, dental, behavioral health, and pharmacy services to a number of patients in the Roanoke Valley, many of them homeless.
The Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority has named the site in Southwest Roanoke one of eight Area Health Education Centers, or AHEC's.
Clinic Executive Director Janine Underwood said the students become AHEC Scholars, and get a good sense of a direction for their careers.
“If someone is just getting into a field, and trying to learn if they’re interested or not, this is a good place for that,” she said. “We really struggle to find dental assistants, pharmacy techs, and nurses. We’re hoping this relationship will bring more awareness to all health care fields.”
Underwood’s clinic did a lot of outreach, recruiting from sites like Roanoke College and Liberty University. She said a student’s experience through AHEC is often more valuable than it would be in a large hospital setting.
“You don’t realize that you may not be a doctor, but you love the health care field - I don’t think a lot of students realize that’s something they can do,” she explained. “They’re going to get their hours of clinical work, even learn about diversity of our patient population. It’s a very rich education for them.”
The AHEC Scholars program provides two-year clinical training programs in fields like medical, dental, nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy, and social work.
Other new sites chosen for the program are in Lynchburg, Fishersville, South Boston, and Fredericksburg.
