Southwest Indiana Area Health Education Center nominated for Leadership Everyone Award

Southwest Indiana Area Health Education Center (SWI AHEC) has been nominated for Leadership Everyone’s 28th Annual Celebration of Leadership, an annual event to recognize servant leadership in the community. The event will be televised and streamed online on March 23. 

Hosted by the University of Southern Indiana in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, SWI AHEC is part of a national network, serving 10 southwest Indiana counties with a mission to improve health and recruit a diverse health workforce for underserved communities. 

“It is an honor to be nominated and recognized for the work we are doing with health professionals, community organizations, schools and universities in this region to improve health care access for all,” says Jane Friona, Executive Director of Southwest Indiana AHEC. “Our goals to recruit and train current and future health professionals to work with rural and underserved populations coincides with Leadership Everyone’s mission, and we are excited to be a part of the Celebration of Leadership.” 

Some of the focus areas of SWI AHEC include: 

Clinical Opportunities: Collaborating with clinical professionals from across the region, SWI AHEC provides clinical opportunities for medical school students, physician assistant students, nurse practitioner students and more. The AHEC also provides educational opportunities for health profession students on cultural competency, social determinants of health and practice transformation. 

Pipeline Programs: SWI AHEC works to foster young people’s interest in healthcare, while promoting academic preparation to ensure future success in their careers. Programs targeting middle school and high school students include school presentations on health careers, college preparation and health and wellness, as well as college campus visits with hands-on activities with health professions programs. 

Professional Development: With a goal to enhance access to continuing education for health professionals, SWI AHEC provides clinical information and resources for clinicians practicing in rural and medically underserved communities. In addition, SWI AHEC manages the Indiana SANE Training Project, which is a grant-funded project training Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) across the state. SWI AHEC has worked closely with nurses at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville to coordinate SANE clinical trainings since 2015. 

“The SANE program at Deaconess was also nominated for a 2023 Leadership Everyone award,” says Friona. “Deaconess has been a wonderful partner in our goal to expand access to care for sexual assault survivors in Indiana, which is creating healthier communities.” 

Leadership Evansville (LE) was founded in 1976 by a group of local leaders to find new ways to make change, solve problems and build communities.