WASHINGTON, D.C. -- United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye is pleased to announce that the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a $1,177,508 million grant to the John A. Burns School of Medicine and Ke Ola O Hawaii, a community based multi-professional training program, to continue its Statewide Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program.

"I am pleased that this much needed program will continue to improve the supply, distribution, quality, and efficiency of personnel who provide health services to areas in the State of Hawaii with serious unmet health care needs. The AHEC Program is central to fostering quality health professional education during our State's difficult economic times," said Senator Inouye.

The AHEC Program is guided by three goals. The first is to develop academic and community partnerships as the foundation of organizational capacity and infrastructure in the AHEC system. The second is to implement community based health professions education in primary care for Hawaii's underserved populations. The final goal is to improve primary care to Hawaii's underserved populations by expanding health services, improving recruitment and retention of providers, continuing education, and community health education.

In three years, the AHEC Program has trained 355 health profession students, from four professional schools, through rotations in 15 primary care settings. Hawaii's two AHECs include: AHEC I, which serves the Islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai and AHEC II, which serves the Islands of Kauai and Oahu.