Blue Ridge Area Health Education Center (AHEC)

Blue Ridge Area Health Education Center (AHEC) is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit charitable organization based in Rome, Georgia. Blue Ridge AHEC is a partner with the Georgia Statewide AHEC Network, a partnership coordinated by Augusta University. Our mission is to support the recruitment, education, training and retention of a diverse health professions workforce in the 20-county northwest Georgia region. We accomplish this by “Growing Our Own” health professionals. Studies show that students are more likely to practice in the communities where they were trained. This begins by creating a “pipeline” of students in grades K-12 who are interested in healthcare, informing them about health careers and helping them to explore opportunities to serve, particularly in rural and underserved communities. Blue Ridge AHEC supports college students in advanced health professions programs as they undergo their clinical training, by providing housing, travel support, credentialing and assistance in obtaining preceptorships. Once a provider choses to live and work in northwest Georgia, Blue Ridge AHEC continues to provide support through continuing education programs (CE/CME) for existing health professionals. In addition, we offer an excellent RN Re-entry Program, which is approved by the Georgia Board of Nursing to provide a combination of 40 hours of study relevant to nursing and 160 hours of supervised nursing practice, required for the reinstatement of licensure as a registered professional nurse. This program is designed for nurses whose licenses have lapsed or are inactive and are presently eligible for reinstatement. Nurses who are returning to direct patient care and have active licenses may also benefit from this program. We pride ourselves on establishing community-based clinical training sites, identifying resources and developing networks, and developing strategies for retention and continuing education of health care professionals.