Northeast AHEC
St. Claire Regional Medical Center
222 Medical Circle
Morehead, KY 40351
Phone: (606) 783-6506
Fax: (606) 784-2767

Staff

Center Director- David Gross, MPA
email David Gross: Dagross@st-claire.org

TeleMedicine: An Innovative Educational Tool

Telecommunication technology provides a powerful new tool for education, and nowhere is that more apparent than at the Northeast AHEC at Morehead. The interactive video network, St. Claire TeleCare, developed by host site St. Claire Medical Center has become an important vehicle used by the Northeast AHEC to deliver continuing education to medical professionals in northeastern Kentucky. By using T-1 telephone lines and specialized telecommunications equipment, two or more sites can be connected allowing participants at each site to see and hear one another simultaneously.

The Northeast AHEC uses the interactive video network extensively to deliver continuing education programs to health professionals at clinics and hospitals in northeastern Kentucky. Using the teleconferencing system is especially cost-effective, since a lecturer speaking at one site can reach many more participants, simply by broadcasting to a number of sites.

Pre-Med Project

The Northeast AHEC, in partnership with Morehead State University, provides this program to assist current premed students during their academic career. The three goals of this project are to establish relationships with students who are interested in the field of medicine early in their academic career, increase pre-med students awareness of community healthcare needs, and to educate pre-med students about the mission of the Northeast AHEC. This project has led to an increase in the number of physicians locating to the Northeast AHEC region (rural eastern Kentucky).

Rural Residency Training Programs

Residency training opportunities have long been an educational emphasis of the Northeast AHEC. Residencies are post-graduate training programs that prepare health providers for specialized practice, such as surgery, pathology, clinical pharmacy or pediodontics. Dr. Warren Proudfoot, a Morehead surgeon, was instrumental in collaborating with the University of Kentucky's Department of Surgery to establish training experiences at St. Claire Medical Center for surgery residents. Residents in surgery, internal medicine, pathology, family medicine and emergency medicine have clinical experiences for one or two months providing residents an opportunity to experience medical practice in a rural community, As a result of their training experiences in the Northeast AHEC, many physicians have chosen to practice in and around the Morehead area.

For more information, visit the Northeast AHEC web site.