NEOAHEC Newsletter Articles, Stories of Impact, Annual Reports, & More

NEOAHEC is celebrating National Rural Health Day! Rural communities are wonderful places to live and work, which is why nearly 61 million people call them home.

Investigators of Science—a STEM day-camp for middle school students hosted by Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center (NEOAHEC) and Eastern Oregon University (EOU)—held its 2024 event at the EOU campus on November 2, 2024.

Between delivering babies, tending to patients of all ages, performing endoscopies, volunteering as an EMT, serving as a medical examiner, directing a small clinic in Heppner, having involvement with the Oregon Medical Association (OMA) and Oregon Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP), and working on his family ranch one day a week, Dr. Defrees does it all.

For Ahnica Shoemaker, an Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Nursing student, being homeschooled didn’t mean that she and her five siblings spent all their time at home. Her family has worked diligently to complement homeschool education with diverse hands-on experiences, including NEOAHEC's MedQuest.

Northeast Oregon AHEC's MedQuest camp has been serving eastern Oregon for 30 Years.

Meet our newest NEOAHEC team member, Dani Patton!

NEOAHEC has completed our third and final MedQuest camp for 2024!

A case study titled, "How a Rural College Works to Prevent 'Brain Drain'" was recently published by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Liz Sieders, NEOAHEC Board of Directors Secretary, was well into her career before she became aware of the nonprofit’s existence. Without the support of an organization like NEOAHEC, she forged her own path to rural healthcare, locating resources and finding experiential learning opportunities. Once she became aware of NEOAHEC and its mission, she got involved, and this year marks her sixth as a board member.

MedQuest has been recognized in the Health Care Workforce Committee's Workforce Development and Retention Subcommittee Strategy Paper.