WEST VIRGINIA RURAL HEALTH EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS (WVRHEP)

West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships (WVRHEP) is a statewide partnership of local rural communities, higher education, and state government. Working with WV AHEC, WVRHEP addresses problems associated with the recruitment and retention of health care workforce in rural underserved areas, access to primary health care for underserved populations, and rural health leadership training and service-learning for health professionals.

There are 13 regional WVRHEP consortia serving 47 rural counties in the state. There are 318 training sites and 295 rural health and social service agencies partnering with these consortia. Approximately 120 health profession students, in 10 different disciplines, are trained per month. Around 700 local community partners, and nearly 600 rural practitioners serve as preceptors for the students and residents.

Three months of training and service in underserved rural areas of the state are a degree completion requirement for health professions students. Training sites include physician and dental offices, rural community health clinics, rural hospitals, patient homes, home health agencies, health departments, churches, pharmacies, birth centers, public schools, etc.

Graduates of state-supported health professions programs are tracked during training and after graduation. Their experiences and attitudes regarding rural training and practice are gathered before and following their training. WVRHEP has its own on-line tracking system called TRACKER© and uses this system as a reporting and evaluation tool.