Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center receives Healthcare Georgia Foundation grant

ALBANY — Healthcare Georgia Foundation announced that 15 grants were being awarded totaling $274,050 which represent a continuation of work already under way to connect people, programs and resources across Georgia to improve health and health care, in part from distance learning, with one of the grantees being Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center, or SOWEGA-AHEC.

“Over the past seven years, our capacity building efforts have included HealthTecdl, the Foundation’s distance learning program, which has delivered more than 200 unique programs to thousands of participants from nonprofit health organizations and the healthcare workforce,” said Gary D. Nelson, president of the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, in a news release. “The development and dissemination of high quality resources and publications is critical to health professionals, given a healthcare environment that is uncertain, disruptive and chaotic. We find that these programs are very well received, especially at a time when professional development resources and opportunities are particularly limited.”

SOWEGA-AHEC was awarded $20,000 for support for participation in HealthTecdl, including the production of five distance learning programs designed to strengthen Georgia’s health care workforce and to sustain its internal distance learning capabilities, officials with the foundation said.

Pam Reynolds, executive director for SOWEGA-AHEC, said such programs are filmed and then archived to make them available for roughly a year. Three of the five programs will be used for the purpose of addressing mental health issues while another will be catered toward those seeking more information on how to become a competitive medical school applicant.

“We have been getting grants from them (the foundation) for years,” Reynolds said. “They are a great partner for us to address the physician shortage and making sure (professionals stay relevant). We make sure it is easy to get the best information.”

Going forward, ensuring current mental health professionals stay on track with their continued education credits and drawing in young individuals into the profession is set to be one of AHEC’s goals.

“For my board, the five-year strategic plan (is to address) behavioral health,” Reynolds said. “We don’t have enough professionals to deal with those issues. The board wants AHEC to be instrumental (in addressing that).”

In the meantime, battling the overall physician shortage will also be something the organization continues to work on.

“(The Healthcare Georgia Foundation) has been a good partner for the long haul,” Reynolds said. “When we look at health disparities, we have some of the sickest counties. The ultimate goal is to have a healthier population.”

The direction of the fifth program has not yet been finalized, the executive director said.

Established in 2007, HealthTecdl utilizes health information technology to deliver programs in support of nonprofit health organizations that drive positive change in their communities, promote programs which improve health and health care for Georgia residents and connect people, programs and resources across the state.

For nonprofit agencies, HealthTecdl shares an organization’s mission of improving the health of Georgians using online distance learning technology to help strengthen the organization’s ability to achieve its goals by allowing the utilization of online tools for real-time access to resources and information enabling them to function more efficiently. For the health industry’s work force, it offers online distance-learning resources that deliver high-quality professional development seminars in a convenient, flexible and engaging format from home, work, or any place that has an Internet connection, the program’s website says.