Our Mission
AHEC Region V-a at The Ohio State University serves 12 central Ohio counties and collaborates with Region V-b located at Ohio University in serving an additional eight counties. Part of the Ohio Statewide AHEC Program, OSU AHEC receives funding from the Ohio Legislature to increase the availability of health care professionals and improve access to quality health care in Ohio. The mission is accomplished through academic and community collaboration, focusing on underserved populations.
While working collaboratively on many statewide initiatives, each AHEC region in Ohio, given local needs and resources, has developed some unique programs to carry out the mission of improving health care in the communities served. Primary initiatives supported by AHEC are the Clear Health Communication program and the AHEC Grant Program. We also collaborate with the College of Medicine Office of Diversity and Inclusion on programs designed to recruit and support underrepresented minority students achieve their goals as healthcare practitioners.
Health Literacy Distance Education Program
The Ohio State University AHEC Clear Health Communication Program, Office of Diversity & Inclusion, College of Medicine offers comprehensive professional development and continuing education in the field of health literacy. The program was developed by Sandra Cornett, BSN, MS, PhD, RN, former director of the program and a national speaker on health literacy issues. These modules are appropriate for physicians, nurses, therapists, pharmacists, social workers, health educators and all practitioners providing direct or indirect health care.
- “Health Literacy: It’s Time To Take It Seriously!” is the core module
- The next four modules provide training on assessing a person’s ability to read and understand health information, clear and effective health communication, effective verbal and written communication with those from other cultures, and the effects of aging on health literacy
- Three modules provide training on writing or selecting effective health materials
- After that, three modules provide training on improving patient adherence through engagement strategies
- The last module focuses on meeting the challenge of low health literacy in an organization
To register, go to healthliteracy.osu.edu. A one-time $30 processing fee applies with nominal fee per module. However, the fee is waived for Ohio State faculty, staff and students.