October is a special month, Advanced Health Education Center (AHEC) and MEDRelief Staffing (MRS), 30th anniversary.
From the beginning, the goal of the company and the ideas of Brenda Arnett and myself was to provide continuing education to practicing professionals in a setting convenient to working adults. Continuing education in imaging technology was sporadic or nonexistent in our large city and career advancement was limited. In the last 30 years that has changed and we can be proud of the role that AHEC played in that revolution. It was not an easy beginning to be ahead of the times. AHEC has been a pioneer in many of our programs.
This month we will celebrate our history but will look forward to our future. Imaging technology has become more and more specialized with the training and continuing education requirements escalating in each modality. There are more programs available online, but many are entangled with the admission requirements of colleges and are cost prohibitive. This combination leads to a gap in fully trained personnel to provide patient services. The second major factor for the future is the age of the work force and the retirement of the most experienced staff. This creates a void in the work place that our company can partner with individuals and facilities to meet.
The most consistent part of the AHEC history has been client driven change. We have met the most prevalent problems in the industry with never saying “it can’t be done”. Our people have met the challenges presented by our clients by finding new methods and experts who can help. We can attack a problem the same day and do not have to go through multiple layers of bureaucracy to get things done. Our in-house staff has long term relationships with our clients and can be instrumental in solving their issues. This has been proven through the years as 25% of our clients come to us on referrals.
In the coming years, AHEC/MRS will have the opportunity to reach even more people and health care providers around the world. The growth of our newsletters and blog is providing relevant content in addition to our regular services. We frequently have training guests from other countries who schedule their visits to the United States in conjunction with our training schedules. We have had guests from 52 countries in our Houston center. Our blog has had readers from 67 countries with more than 30,000 views since we started. Our staffing division continues to develop with the many requests from our staffing partners. The need for consulting services in the new regulatory environment guarantees that we will be sending consultants to those who need expertise and advice.
We have accomplished a lot together in our first 30 years and empowered countless health care professionals and facilities to realize their full potential. What matters most is what we do next. Thank you for making AHEC/MRS a great company now and for the future.
President/CEO: Marilyn Sackett, M.Ed, RT (R)
