The National AHEC Organization held its biennial Workshop in Baltimore, MD July 31 – August 4. The theme of the Workshop, “Staying the Course in a Sea of Change,” was featured in over 110 sessions, technical assistance presentations, exhibits and poster sessions.

Held at the Baltimore Marriott Hotel in downtown Baltimore, the Workshop was hosted by the Mid-Atlantic AHEC’s including Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The planning committee consisted of representatives from 8 states and 16 AHEC programs and organizations. The collaborative planning effort was the first in its history and yielded favorable results. Over 900 registrants participated in the Workshop and traveled as far as London, England.

“You can see that from the level of participation that AHEC’s truly have a passion for improving access to primary and preventive care through academic-community partnerships. We hope this workshop provided attendees with new tools to develop and implement significant health care programs,” said Eloise Foster, planning committee chair for the 2004 NAO Workshop.

The keynote speaker for the opening plenary session was Dr. Gloria WilderBrathwaite, MD, director of the Mobile Health Program for the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC and winner of Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network “Use Your Life” Award. WilderBrathwaite spoke of how she grew up in poverty in New York City and worked her way through college and medical school and now spends everyday on the streets giving free health care to impoverished families via a 38-foot RV outfitted as a clinic.

“Dr. WilderBrathwaite’s testimony was such an inspiration to all health professionals working with the underserved,” said Meseret Bezuneh, MS, Ed, volunteer committee chair for the NAO Workshop and acting deputy director of the Maryland AHEC Program, University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The Workshop also included two awards ceremonies, The NAO Top Hat Award and a second ceremony recognizing outstanding projects for NAO members. The NAO Top Hat Award was given to Senators Frist and Mikulski, Speaker Pelosi and Congressional representatives Hoyer, and Young.

In the second awards ceremony, NAO AHEC Center Awards for Excellence were given in four categories, Continuing Education awarded to Southern Nevada AHEC for their “Public Health Preparedness Initiative”; Health Careers Recruitment awarded to Magnolia Coastlands AHEC for their “Nursing Recruitment Strategies: A Resource Manual”; Learning Resources awarded to Eastern Virginia AHEC for “The Eastern Virginia Telemedicine Network”; and Special Community-Based Programs awarded to the Eastern AHEC of North Carolina for their “School Mental Health Project.”

HETC awards were given in two categories, the Border HETC Award given to HETC of Texas for their “Binational Infrastructure Development on the US Mexico Border,” and the Non-Border HETC Award given to North Kentucky HETC Promotora Program for their “Promotores de Salud/Lay Health Promoters” program.

The Andy Nichols Award for Social Justice was shared between Kathy A. Flores, MD, NAO president and Arthur M. Fournier, MD, program director for the Miami-Dade AHEC and the Florida Keys AHEC.

The Red Koelling Award was given to Charles O. Cranford, DDS, MPA, Director of the Arkansas AHEC and the Eugene S. Mayer Program of Excellence Award to H. John Blossom, MD, director of the California AHEC.

“It was amazing to see how it all came together in the end,” said Claudia R. Baquet, MD, MPH, director of the Maryland AHEC Program. “So many people put so much hard work and dedication into getting this together. And, the end result was that we were able to further our goals of improved health care distribution in underserved areas.”

Kathy A. Flores, MD, NAO president said the workshop was “outstanding” applauding NAO members for their “presence, interest, presentations and displays,” and acknowledged “the triad of Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia for their hard work.”