AHEC Summer Projects
AHEC Summer Projects are designed to offer inter-professional community based service learning opportunities for students at The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont (UVM), UVM nurse practitioner students, graduate level MSW students and other graduate level health professions students. These are paid work and learning opportunities. All AHEC Summer Projects require access to a car.
Applications for a 2017 Summer Project will be available in January 2017
SUMMER PROJECTS 2016
There were no AHEC Summer Projects in our region for 2016.
SUMMER PROJECTS 2015
The 2015 Champlain Valley AHEC Summer Project focused on opioid addiction and the 
treatment process for pregnant women in Chittenden County. The interprofessional team (Adrienne Jarvis, MS2 and Simone Cote, MSW Social Work student) developed a resource guide for mothers and clinicians with support from Champlain Valley AHEC titled “Opiate Addiction and Pregnancy: Find Help in Chittenden County.” The guide offers information on where to get help and treatment options during pregnancy.
Resource Guide: Opiate Addiction and Pregnancy: Find Help in Chittenden County (PDF)
PowerPoint Presentation: Opioid Treatment in Pregnant Women
For more information, please contact Judy Wechsler, Champlain Valley AHEC, Education Resource Coordinator at [email protected] or (802) 527-1474 x211.
SUMMER PROJECTS 2014
The 2014 Champlain Valley AHEC Summer Project was set up to develop culturally and linguistically suitable lesson plans for healthcare professionals and students to use to introduce important U.S. healthcare topics to Vermont’s Latino/a migrant farm workers. The interprofessional student team (Jian Xin Huang, MS2 and Jack Fitch, RN NPS) developed their lesson plans with support from Champlain Valley AHEC, assisted by University of Vermont Extension Bridges to Health/Puentes a la Salud, and shaped by several of their conversations with Latino/a migrant farm workers. The lesson plans include an “Overview of the U.S. Healthcare System”, and information on “Medical Bills” and “Financial Assistance”, with teacher and student versions in both Spanish and English. We anticipate that the lesson plans can be incorporated into new and existing programs that provide educational and healthcare services to Vermont Latino/a migrant farm workers.
Lessons in Health Literacy_English version – Resources to Help Vermont Latino/a Migrant Farm Workers Navigate the Complex US Healthcare System (Lesson Plans)
Lessons in Health Literacy_Spanish version – Recursos de Apoyo para Trabajadores Agrícolas de Latinoamérica en Vermont para poder navegar el Complicado Sistema de Salud EEUU (Planes de Lección)
For more information, please contact Judy Wechsler, Champlain Valley AHEC, Education Resource Coordinator at [email protected] or 802-527-1474 x 211.
SUMMER PROJECTS 2013
2013 AHEC Summer Projects (formerly SEARCH Experiences) are designed to offer interdisciplinary, community-based service-learning opportunities for health professions students. These experiences give students a deeper understanding of primary care in a rural Vermont community, serving under-served populations, the important role of the community, and the challenges and rewards of this work and setting. Champlain Valley AHEC is proud to have supported the work of the following students:
- Prabu Selvam, UVM College of Medicine Class or 2014 and Alejandro Castro, UVM College of Medicine Class of 2016 developed the Migrant Worker Health Booklet to empower Vermont’s migrant farm workers to address common health concerns in the safety of their homes and to make informed health care decisions about the point at which (and where) to access care. It is an easy-to-follow format accessible to those with a range of health literacy levels while simultaneously ensuring the inclusion of sufficient health information. The booklet is in English and Spanish. You’ll see that there is now an English-Vietnamese version which, Dr. Selvan tells us, was developed by students at the University of Minnesota.
- Leah Fox, UVM College of Medicine and Steven Morris, UVM Masters of Social Work candidate, collaborated on a project about “Collaboration and IntegrAHEC Summer Project Poster ation across Primary Care and Behavioral Health.” In this project the students were interested in learning about the perspective of health care professionals and policymakers regarding the current barriers and enablers of collaboration across the primary care and mental health divide. They interviewed a variety of health care professionals and policymakers to better understand the range of perspectives.
SUMMER PROJECTS 2012
SEARCH Experiences are designed to offer interdisciplinary, community-based service-learning opportunities for health professions students. These two- and four-week experiences give students a deeper understanding of primary care in a rural Vermont community, serving under-served populations, the important role of the community, and the challenges and rewards of this work and setting. Champlain Valley AHEC facilitated the SEARCH projects of the following students in 2012:
- John-Paul Kelada and Ben Clements, UVM College of Medicine, whose project followed up the work of former SEARCH students to help address some of the challenges that Latino migrant farm workers face in accessing healthcare and to identify resources for health services in Addison County.
- Lauren Kreiger, UVM College of Medicine, and Nicole Fossiano, UVM Masters of Social Work candidate, whose project was to work with the newly arrived in Vermont Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugee population to develop relevant resource information for Champlain Valley AHEC’s Cultural Competency for Healthcare Providers, a manual to assist primary care providers in addressing the health needs of this new population.
Cultural Competency for Health Care Providers: Bhutanese Refugees
- Michelle VanHorne, UVM College of Medicine, and Erin O’Keefe, UVM Masters of Social Work candidate, whose project followed up the work of former SEARCH students in the “Linking Elders to Local Foods for Better Health” project by addressing previously identified barriers for elders at PACE in order for them to more easily access local healthy foods.
Linking Elders to Local Foods for Better Health (PowerPoint)
SUMMER PROJECTS 2011
Champlain Valley AHEC facilitated the SEARCH projects of the following students in 2011:
- Peter Cooch and Dave Larsen, UVM College of Medicine, whose project helped to address some of the challenges that Latino migrant farm workers face in accessing healthcare in Franklin County.
Franklin County Latino Migrant Farm Worker Poster (PowerPoint)
- Caitlin Dempsey and Alixandra West, UVM MSW students, and Heath Lutton, UVM COM, sought to increase the access for seniors at the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) to healthy, locally grown food.
- Chelsea Harris, UVM COM, by updating the Champlain Valley AHEC Cultural Competency Manual has provided our region’s primary care practitioners with new, revised and additional information to assist them in providing health care by understanding Vermont’s ethnically diverse population.
Cultural Competency for Health Care Providers Poster (PowerPoint)
- George Vana, Laura Rabideau, and Ben Ware, UVM COM students, worked together on a project to determine whether medical students regard electronic medical records as a barrier or an enabler of learning and whether their curriculum covering EMR could be improved.
Medical Student Perspectives Regarding Electronic Medical Records Poster