Community outreach, training, and research: the Hawai'i/Pacific Basin area Health Education Center of the University of Hawai'i, John A. Burns SChool of Medicine.

The Hawai'i/Pacific Basin AHEC is a federal grant program that utilizes academic/community partnerships to recruit students to health careers, train students in rural and underserved areas, and assist with workforce development across the region. Ongoing activities and programs include 1) Outreach for recruitment to health careers for students from kindergarten through adulthood; 2) Individual and interdisciplinary health professions student training in rural and underserved areas; 3) Community health education using distance learning; 4) Assessment of and efforts to improve recruitment and retention of providers in rural areas including continuing education; and 5) Health disparities research. The AHEC programs reach more than 4,000 individuals annually, helps to train more than 1,000 individuals a year and assist with placement of up to 20 providers a year in rural and underserved healthcare practices. This article describes the existing AHEC programs that are community based, community driven and inclusive of all who choose to participate. Collaboration is invited and necessary for success and future program development. Future areas for collaboration activities include increased statewide community health worker training, an expanded health careers pipeline, ongoing rural and underserved health needs assessments and an expanded training network for students in healthcare. Additional information is available at www.ahec.hawaii.edu.