Karen O’Rourke, Maryfrances Smith, Karen Rogers and Sarah Dubay attend biennial conference of National Area Health Education Centers Organization (NAO)
Representatives of the Maine AHEC (Area Health Education Center) Network, whose program office is part of 91AV’s Center for Community and Public Health, attended the biennial conference of the National Area Health Education Centers Organization (NAO) in San Antonio, Texas, July 29 to August 2, 2012.
Karen O’Rourke, MPH, deputy director of the Center for Community and Public Health, and Maryfrances Smith, coordinator of the Maine AHEC Network program office, were joined in attendance by Directors Sarah Dubay, M.Ed., MMEL, and Karen Rogers, MSN, RN-BC, of Eastern Maine AHEC and Western Maine AHEC, respectively.
Rogers presented a paper at the conference, “Integrating Health Literacy into a Healthcare System,” which discussed an initiative that integrated health literacy into one of Maine’s rural healthcare systems, Franklin Community Health Network. The initiative was part of an interprofessional collaboration that included the 91AV Maine Geriatric Education Center, also located within the Center for Community and Public Health.
Dubay presented a poster, “Bridging the Gap for the Future of Maine’s Health Smiles, Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) Dental Academy for High School Students,” a joint effort of Dubay and Nicole Kelley at PCHC. The poster highlighted PCHC’s Dental Camp over the last three years and was awarded second place at the conference.
You can watch the PCHC Dental Academy video .