Silver City, New Mexico. Hidalgo Medical Services announces that it has just received a subaward from the University of New Mexico to develop an Area Health Education Center in Silver City. This center will be the third regional center created in New Mexico and will complement the mission of the FORWARD NM – Pathways to Health Careers program at the Center for Health Innovation at HMS.

The National Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program was established in the U.S. in 1972 to improve the supply, distribution, retention and quality of primary care and other health practitioners in medically underserved areas. The program is part of a national effort to improve access to health services through changes in the education and training of health professionals. More than 200 centers comprise the national AHEC program. AHECs are distributed across 48 states and the District of Columbia. In each state, the central program office is associated with a university health science center and coordinates the efforts of the state's regional centers. Organization and staffing of AHECs varies greatly and is dependent on academic and financial resources. Each regional center has an office staffed by a center director and support staff.

The FORWARD NM Area Health Education Center is based in Silver City and will serve students in Grant, Hidalgo, Luna and Catron counties. The model includes: Community provider engagement, partnerships with local school districts and state universities to promote school clubs, camps, paid internships, mentoring, shadowing, volunteerism, establishing medical and dental students and residents training opportunities, developinga Family Medicine Residency Program in Silver City, policy work to increase access to comprehensive Primary Careservices for rural and frontier communities and continuing education for all health professionals.

In addition to the subaward from UNM, these programs will be supported by the New Mexico Department of Health, Office of Primary Care and Rural Health through contracts to expand these efforts statewide. In the coming year, the NM DOH will utilize the HMS Center for Health Innovations location as a home base for dissemination of the FORWARD NMmodel in other communities in New Mexico.

The FORWARD NM model was initially developed in 2010 through a network of healthcare partners, including Gila Regional Medical Center, the University of New Mexico, the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health and the Southern New Mexico Family Medicine Residency Program. The program has grown to include over 35 stakeholders, including Western New Mexico University and many medical providers in our communities.

The other two AHEC sites in New Mexico include: the Montanes del Norte Area Health Education Center (MdNAHEC) located at Luna Community College in Las Vegas and the Southern Area Health Education Center (SoAHEC)located at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. For more information, contact Tamera Ahner, FORWARD NM AHEC Director, at 575-534-0101 X2107.