View the 2023-2024 Annual Report
I am pleased to welcome you to view the Northwest Area Health Education Center (Northwest AHEC) Annual Report for 2023-2024. We are completing a landmark year for our organization as we continue to celebrate Northwest AHEC’s 50th anniversary.
Fresh on the heels of North Carolina AHEC’s own half-century celebration, what stands out to me about our regional AHEC’s history is how we have stayed true to our mission. At our very heart, we are today, as we have always been, about people — committing and following through to educate and prepare people to improve health care for all across our region.
When we succeed in educating and motivating people to go into the health care workforce in our communities, our communities, in turn, have a better opportunity to thrive and succeed.
I think about how much our organization and our community partners have achieved in this regard over these five decades, and I am inspired.
I am inspired by the thousands of people who have been associated with our organization, both here in our 17-county region and across the state. People who were committed to improving care for every person by learning all they could to care as best they could for those who needed it most. Students who became health care professionals dedicated to our communities. Health care professionals who sought to bring services and compassion to every corner of our state, from urban centers to remote rural towns. Community leaders who looked for ways to improve access to care without compromising quality of care.
I am inspired by professional health care educators like Karen Fritz, who retired this year after 46 years with Northwest AHEC; Mona Ketner, who worked with new mothers in supporting postnatal behavioral health; and Walter Scott Duy and Pinyu Chen, two Wake Forest University School of Medicine graduate students recently named 2024-25 North Carolina Albert Schweitzer Fellows. As co-chairs of the student-run Share the Health Fair, they sought to fill gaps in the services offered and successfully brought vision and dental care this year to the event at the Atrium Health Downtown Health Plaza.
These last 50 years have been filled with truly remarkable examples of what people can accomplish for our communities when we work together. As we look ahead with optimism and determination, we look forward to partnering with community leaders, schools, universities and organizations across our region to help recruit, train and retain the needed health professionals to care for ALL citizens.
Together we can continue our mission to create a healthier North Carolina.
Michael P. Lischke, EdD, MPH
Richard Janeway, MD, Distinguished Director of Northwest AHEC