{"id":242466,"date":"2026-03-16T13:28:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T17:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=242466"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:28:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T17:28:04","slug":"serving-communities-delivering-care-the-health-education-centers-mission-of-healthcare-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/03\/serving-communities-delivering-care-the-health-education-centers-mission-of-healthcare-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Serving Communities, Delivering Care: The Health Education Center\u2019s Mission of Healthcare Accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

With one program office at UConn Health and four other regional offices across Connecticut, Eastern AHEC rebranded in 2019 to become the Health Education Center. Leading clinics across the counties it serves, AHEC\u00a0facilitates\u00a0experience learning opportunities for students across Connecticut with its health professional pipeline programs. Filling in the medical gap found in rural communities in Eastern\u00a0Connecticut,\u00a0The Health Education Center\u2019s\u00a0goal of healthcare accessibility intersects its focus on training the next generation of healthcare professionals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want our local communities to be reflected in their health care providers.\u201d\u00a0–\u00a0Natalie Crino<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aside from partnering with universities and colleges across the state, The Health Education Center inspires high schoolers through their Youth Health Service Core. Traveling to high schools, this program teaches students the variety of careers found within healthcare and the impact of public health programs on their communities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Natalie Crino,\u00a0Health Education Center\u00a0Director,\u00a0is especially pleased with\u00a0UConn\u2019s involvement in the\u00a0IPE clinics,\u00a0more specifically\u00a0students\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0School.\u00a0Oftentimes, if a community\u00a0needs\u00a0medication\u00a0education, pharmacy students can help\u00a0identify\u00a0the medications and any\u00a0possible side\u00a0effects.\u00a0Seamlessly transitioning into an interdisciplinary team, these students also aid community members in understanding medication management, explaining to them what a refill is, and\u00a0the importance of\u00a0creating a medication schedule.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Students
Students volunteers practice for their upcoming clinic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During their time as a Husky, students\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0School\u00a0must complete 2 IPE clinics in their professional years. Additionally, students involved in the Urban Service Track or AHEC Scholars are automatically a part of The Health Education Center. Through these requirements and opportunities, many UConn Pharmacy students are exposed to community health and hands-on learning.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Interacting with community members and understanding their stories, students like third-year pharmacy student Tracy Li<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0can learn about the determinants of community health and the barriers to accessing health care. At her first HEC Clinic, where she volunteered at the Covenant Soup Kitchen, Li worked in a team with a nursing student and a medical student. Together, they saw patients and used a medical interpreter to best understand the attendees.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInteracting with the community and talking with members about their experiences was eye-opening for me.\u201d – Tracy Li<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By\u00a0helping patients, especially those who\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0see a primary care provider regularly, Li developed her skills in working on an interprofessional team to best deliver care to community members.\u00a0She\u00a0also believes healthcare is becoming more integrated, so having first-hand experience with\u00a0integrative\u00a0teams\u00a0will help\u00a0Li in her future career.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from\u00a0facilitating\u00a0health measures, like taking blood pressure, student teams are encouraged to talk with community members and ask questions at the clinics. With the goal of solving healthcare access barriers, students work with coordinators in\u00a0identifying\u00a0opportunities to bridge these gaps in the healthcare system. Seeing around 10-12 people in each clinic, HEC served 124 community members from October to January. Last fall, HEC\u00a0worked with UConn Pharmacy and students to lead a flu shot clinic at the Covenant Soup Kitchen.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Facilitating 6 clinics a month, HEC\u2019s clinic locations include Covenant Soup Kitchen\u00a0in Windham, Saint Vincent\u2019s de Paul in Norwich, the Homeless Hospitality Center in New London, the Place for Community Well-Being in New London, and Huntington Towers in New London.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Natalie
Natalie Crino with volunteers and students<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Health Education Center is one of four regional centers in Connecticut, alongside the Southwestern AHEC, National Mental Health Corps, and the Central AHEC. All non-profit organizations, these centers\u00a0provide resources and\u00a0facilitate\u00a0clinics for their respective counties.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For UConn students who want to volunteer at any upcoming HEC clinics, they can reach out to Tracy Li with any questions. They can also learn more through <\/span>Connecticut Area Health Education Center Network<\/span><\/a> on the UConn Pharmacy website or by visiting <\/span>The Health Education Center’s<\/span><\/a>\u00a0website. Community members looking for a chance to visit the HEC clinics can find more information through their website and social media.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serving Eastern Connecticut as part of the Connecticut Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network, the Health Education Center has strengthened the health profession pipeline and provided healthcare access to community members in the Windham, New London, and Tolland counties for more than 30 years. Partnering with UConn Pharmacy, HEC Interprofessional Education (IPE) Health Clinics engage students in their professional years, offering hands-on experience in community health through volunteer opportunities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":242475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2644],"class_list":["post-242466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pharm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 07:48:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242466"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242479,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242466\/revisions\/242479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/242475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242466"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=242466"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=242466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}