Mineral County students selected for MedStart program

St. Regis High School junior, Fina Lizardi, and Alberton High School sophomore, Kalin Smith, have been selected to attend the Western Montana Area Health Education Center (AHEC) summer program, MedStart: An Exploration of Healthcare Careers.

Western Montana AHEC hosts Missoula MedStart, an annual week-long camp designed to expose rural high school sophomores and juniors, who are low income, first-generation-college, to potential careers in the healthcare field.

Selected applicants attend MedStart Camp free-of-charge. In June, 30 campers will stay at The University of Montana campus and learn about health-related programs of study.

North Central AHEC will host MedStart in Great Falls and South Central AHEC will host MedStart in Bozeman.

A total of ninety students were selected for the three camps from the 175 applicants.

Western Montana Area Health Education Center (WMT-AHEC) is one of four regional AHEC offices in Montana.

The AHEC program was developed by Congress in 1971 to recruit, train, and retain a healthcare workforce committed to underserved populations.

In 1985, the Montana AHEC was implemented at Montana State University in Bozeman.

In September, 2007, the MSU College of Nursing applied and was awarded a grant from the Health Resource Service Administration (HRSA) to establish 4 regional AHEC offices in Montana, in addition to the Bozeman Program Office. The Western MT AHEC, at The University of Montana, in Missoula, was established in 2008. WMT- AHEC provides services to the 7-county western region of Montana.