MN Urban AHEC staff took part in the Twins Cities Economic Summit on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at the Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC). The event was a forum for community leaders to discuss strategies to create jobs and build up the economic security for African American and people of color in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, Representative Bobby Joe Champion, Representative Jeff Hayden, Representative Rena Moran and State Senator John Harrington were among the political leaders and community leaders in attendance and presenting at the event.

More coverage of the event can be found in the Star Tribune and MinnPost.

Abstracts are now being accepted for the Collaborating Across Borders III conference, scheduled for November 19-21 in Tucson, Arizona.

The conference theme is "Interprofessional Collaboration: From Concept to Preparation to Practice."

Abstracts will be considered for workshops, discussion groups, research papers, demonstrations, and posters. The deadline for responding to the Call for Abstracts is April 29, 2011. Submissions can be made online.

Barbara F. Brandt, Ph.D., Director of MN AHEC and Associate Vice President for Education, Academic Health Center, University of Minnesota, is a Co-Chair for Collaborating Across Borders III.

American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center (AIOIC) is a Minneapolis-based non-profit organization with a mission to empower American Indians to pursue career opportunities by providing individualized education, training, and employment services in a culturally rich environment.

They have recently released a resource guide to Health Care Careers.

In the fall of 2010, AIOIC added health occupations to their vocational course offerings.

Save the Date for an interprofessional event, From Stigma to Care, for medical, pharmacy and RN students.

This educational event will take place on Monday, April 18th, 2011 from 10am to 3pm at Lakeland Mental Health in Fergus Falls.

Additional details will be provided when students RSVP.

Please RSVP by Monday, April 11, 2011 to Laurissa Stigen at Central MN AHEC, laurissa.stigen@minnesota.edu or 218-736-1601.

Minnesota AHEC is a Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professions program funded through Title VII of the Public Health Service Act.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.

You can see other HRSA funded programs working to improve access to health care services in Minnesota and other states at the HRSA in Your State website.

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and the National AHEC Organization have collaborated on a series of posters and talking points for practitioners to use to talk with young patients about careers in family medicine and primary care.

The "You Can Be a Family Doctor" Posters and Talking Points can be downloaded on the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine website.

Yesterday, March 17, 2011, more than 26,000 medical school seniors across the United States discovered where they will spend the next three to seven years for their residency training

On Match Day 2011, more than half of the class of 225 University of Minnesota Medical School students were matched with residency programs in Minnesota.

In addition, more than half of the students are expected to go into primary care residency programs (internal medicine, family practice, or pediatrics). Primary care is the area of focus for MN AHEC as there is a great need for these practitioners in rural and urban areas. This year, all of the family practice residency slots filled across the state.

Match Day is coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), a private, not-for-profit organization established in 1952 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism to match the preferences of applicants to U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors for those applicants.

The Bridges Career Exploration Day at Central Lakes College in Brainerd on March 11 drew more than 2,300 high school students from across central Minnesota to sample more than 150 career options through interaction with professionals in health care, business, public service, and higher education.

Career clusters highlighted during the event were business, management, and administration; arts, communications and information systems; agriculture, foods, and natural resources; human services; engineering, manufacturing, technology; health services; and liberal arts.

Central MN AHEC was part of the planning committee for the health services career cluster. University of Minnesota health professions students and Central MN AHEC staff also participated in guiding the health services careers cluster activities. More than 183 non-profits, businesses, higher education institutions, and other organizations contributed to the success of the event.

The Lakes Country Service Cooperative and Central MN AHEC have have formed a collaboration to promote student awareness of, and interest in, the health career options for K-12 students in their region.

Read all about it on page 4 of the Winter 2011 Edition of the Lakes Country Service Cooperative Communicator.