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The Maine Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network partnered with several programs at the SWAG��Ƶ to bring 20 high school students from the (NMPHI) to visit SWAG��Ƶ’s Biddeford and Portland campuses.  In an effort to increase the diversity of Maine’s healthcare workforce, Maine AHEC Network has collaborated with NMPHI to expose high school students who are the children of immigrants and refugees to healthcare careers.

Karen O’Rourke, M.P.H., director of the Maine AHEC Network explained, “Many immigrant and refugee parents are unfamiliar with the educational system in the U.S. and many did not attend colleges themselves, so it’s important for us to create an avenue for these students to explore the education and career opportunities that are available to them, and become more comfortable with the application process and college environment.”

NMPHI is a health related, ethnic-based organization serving the needs of immigrant and refugee youth and their families. Their goal is to empower, inform and educate new Mainers in order to decrease health disparities. The SWAG��Ƶ visit was part of NMPHI’s pilot program funded by the Maine AHEC Network, which targets juniors and seniors in high school in the Lewiston/Auburn area of Maine and does the following: involves students and parents in the process of entering the healthcare field; provides mentorship for students and encourages them to enter healthcare fields; provides access to job shadows at local hospitals and pharmacies; involves the elders as the community leaders to discuss the value of education; and facilitates student tours of local universities and connects them with academic advisers.

While visiting SWAG��Ƶ, the students received a presentation from Undergraduate Admissions and toured both campuses, including a tour of SWAG��Ƶ’s Oral Health Center. They learned about careers in the nutrition field from SNAP-Ed senior nutrition program coordinator and Nutrition Program faculty Anne-Marie Davee, M.S., R.D., L.D., and about careers as physician assistants from Joe Wolfberg, M.S., adjunct professor in the Physician Assistant Program. Faculty and students from the College of Pharmacy created an experiential learning activity that allowed the students to try their hands at creating a simulated medical compound. 

“This type of program is so crucial,” says Zoe Hull, M.P.H., program manager for Maine AHEC Network who helped organize the event together with NMPHI’s Executive Director, Abdulkerim Said, B.A.S., B.H.P., C.H.W. “not only because we have a dwindling healthcare workforce in Maine, but also because we can’t expect to meet the needs of all Mainers if our healthcare workforce doesn’t reflect the increasing diversity of our state.”

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