South Carolina AHEC News & Updates

 A pair of siblings from Greer are giving back to current Upstate AHEC Health Careers students after completing the program themselves. Alex Marchek, MD is in his first year as a family medicine resident at Prisma Health Seneca. His younger sister by two years, Anna Marchek, is a second-year medical student at Edward Via College of Medicine (VCOM) Carolinas. “My mom likes to say she did good,” Anna joked. “Both of her kids are going to be doctors. She went two-for-two.” Anna (left) and Alex (right) Marchek are pictured with Nita Donald, Executive Director of Upstate AHEC. While Alex and Anna have both chosen to pursue medicine as a career, their interest in healthcare developed differently. Alex describes his discovery of health sciences as a slow realization. “It was definitely something that was on my radar really young,” said Alex. “My parents will say when I was six years old, I was talking about doing something in medicine. I had some really great science teachers in elementar...

High school students from across the Midlands have benefitted from an expansion in programming in Mid-Carolina AHEC’s Health Career Academy (HCA) . The HCA focusses on creating an exploration experience for students through grade-specific programming to promote academic success, career development and personal growth.  Mid-Carolina AHEC’s growth in its HCA is due in part to the hiring of an additional coordinator, made possible by the increase in state funds appropriated to South Carolina AHEC for fiscal year 2023. All four regional AHEC centers were able to grow to two coordinators supporting their Health Careers Programs (HCP) and start expanding the reach within their regions. With the additional support, Mid-Carolina AHEC’s HCP coordinators, Whitney Amaker and Taylor Rice, can reach more schools and students in the 11 counties their center covers. “The HCA has expanded over the last few years to many different counties such as York, Lancaster and Chester,” said Mid-Carolina AHE...

The Mid-Carolina AHEC Health Careers Program is proud to announce its continued partnership with Midlands Technical College Department of Nursing and a new partnership with the South Carolina Office of Rural Health’s Workforce Program Manager Jessica Seel. This partnership recently enabled Mid-Carolina AHEC Health Careers Academy (HCA) students from grades nine through twelve to learn more about nursing and preparing to enter the health professions. Jessica Seel spoke to HCA students to help them prepare for seeking professional careers. She covered key tips for becoming a successful job seeker: establishing good first impressions, using social media appropriately, dressing professionally, and discussing prior job experience. She also worked with the students to understand the importance of professionalism, networking, and volunteering. After speaking with Ms. Seel, students participated in interactive patient simulations with Chaunta Simmons, RN, from Midlands Technical College...

Upstate AHEC has partnered with Greenville County to provide a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Lab where Upstate AHEC Health Careers Academy (HCA) students learned about disaster preparedness for hazards in the county. Rachel Nafziger from the Greenville County CERT Program taught a lab on medical triage for mass casualty incidents where students were able to learn more about the types of victims in a disaster, the most effective response technique when a disaster occurs and basic triage techniques. With this new knowledge of response behavior, students participated in a triage activity and passed with 90 percent of lives saved. Upstate AHEC would like to recognize the Greenville County team’s commitment to the students’ experience: they will allow HCA students to participate in the complete eight week CERT program for free. Upstate AHEC’s Health Careers Academy is an integrative program offered to high school students in the upstate region who aspire t...

It’s that time of year again; the Mid-Carolina AHEC Health Careers Academy (HCA) is now recruiting for the 2016-2017 Health Careers Academy. The Health Careers Academy aims to increase the number of students, especially minority and disadvantaged students, entering the health professions in South Carolina. The evidence-based HCA curriculum is also designed to promote resiliency, improve overall academic success, and foster a sense of purpose in the student participants.   It provides students with a practical link between academic studies and preparation for participation in the workforce. The Mid-Carolina AHEC offers the HCA for rising 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade high school students. HCA activities promote academic success, career development and personal growth for students. The HCA also helps families understand that the path to becoming a health care professional begins in high school. The HCA provides exploration into health careers and prepares students for t...

  Upstate AHEC Health Careers Academy (HCA) partnered with the University Center of Greenville for a simulation lab activity on March 5. High school students from the region took part in the activity as part of the 2014-2015 Upstate AHEC Health Careers Academy. Kim Blankenship, RN, Mary Black School of Nursing Sim Lab Manager, facilitated the lab activity, which enabled HCA students to participate in simulation experiences.   The partnership with the University Center gives students an opportunity to work with faculty, staff, health professionals and students to receive relevant up-to-date information, knowledge, and skills that are being disseminated and practiced in post-secondary classrooms and clinical settings.   Simulation affords students the opportunity to be exposed to reality-based scenarios that will be a part of their healthcare practice in the future and gives them a chance to practice physical assessment skills.    Ashleigh Godby, an 11 t...

Sabra C. Slaughter Award Mid-Carolina AHEC would like to congratulate Taylor Harden as the South Carolina AHEC Sabra C. Slaughter Humanitarian Award recipient from the Mid-Carolina AHEC Region during the 2013-2014 term. The award is designed to encourage the active involvement of youth in improving their communities through an organized and structured philanthropy. Applicants for the Sabra C. Slaughter Humanitarian Award had to complete a minimum of 50 hours of documented volunteer service within a nine-month period (July 1 – April 30). Congratulations to the 2014 Mid-Carolina AHEC graduating class and their acceptance to college in the fall: Hannah Barker - USC Aiken Madison Byerley - College of Charleston Summer Days - Charleston Southern Maya Dilligard - College of Charleston Amy Fernandez - USC Lancaster Clivis Jamal Hamilton - Francis Marion Janna Hines - Oglethorpe University Angel Luna - Francis Marion Bridget Sampson - Universi...