Â鶹ֱ²¥

The Maine AHEC Network aims to alleviate healthcare workforce shortages in our communities by recruiting Maine students into healthcare careers.

Engaging students through pathway activities is critical — particularly those from rural communities as growing up in a rural area is a strong predictor of future rural practice. Offered throughout Maine in collaboration with our partners, health career exploration programs expose youth ro various careers and offer support on their pathway to entering the health professions.

Health Careers Explorations Camp

Each summer, the Â鶹ֱ²¥ hosts a free Health Careers Explorations Camp for Maine high school students interested in healthcare careers. Through hands‑on activities and interactive sessions, students entering grades 10–12 explore a variety of health professions while also learning about the college admissions process.

During the Health Careers Exploration Camp, students explore careers such as dental hygiene, dental medicine, osteopathic medicine, neuroscience, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, and public health.

This three-day overnight camp takes place on UNE’s Portland Campus for the Health Sciences, with evenings spent in the dorms on the Biddeford Campus. Staying overnight in the dorms creates an opportunity for students to learn what it’s like to live on a college campus. Campus staff and chaperones are with students at all times during the camp, and transportation between the two campuses is included.

No Cost

There is no cost for accepted students to attend this camp, which is funded by the Â鶹ֱ²¥, Martin’s Point Health Care, the Maine AHEC Network, the Finance Authority of Maine, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Application Process

The 2027 camp applications will be available in April 2027 to Maine students entering grades 10–12 in fall 2027.

Strengthening Our Healthcare Workforce: Empowering New Mainer Youth to Explore and Pursue Health Careers

The Strengthening Our Healthcare Workforce project helps new Mainer youth from immigrant families in Cumberland and Androscoggin counties explore and prepare for careers in healthcare. Through hands-on learning, mentorship, and leadership development, students gain the skills and confidence to pursue paths in the health professions. This program is offered in close collaboration with Portland High School and Lewiston High School.

The project’s five primary components are:

1. Learning opportunities for students to gain exposure to health careers and to receive mentorship
2. Support for student internship opportunities in the health field
3. College preparation and career planning sessions for youth and their families
4. Leadership and civic engagement learning opportunities
5. Ongoing support for youth and their families

Graduate students from the AHEC Scholars Program help deliver learning activities for the project.

The project is made possible by a two-year Community Responsive Grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation, awarded to the Maine AHEC Network and its community partners at the Maine Access Immigrant Network and the New Mainers Public Health Initiative. The grant builds on a project previously funded for five years by the federal Office of Minority Health.

Maine Primary Care FQHC Immersion

With funding from the Maine Workforce Innovation Network grant, The Maine Primary Care Association has partnered with the Maine AHEC Network to provide funding and support for a two-year high school Immersion Program with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) across the state. The Western and Eastern Maine AHEC Centers, along with the program office at UNE, have partnered with local FQHCs and schools to offer healthcare career exploration opportunities such as:

• Visiting the FQHCs and receiving instruction from their staff while participating in hands-on activities, including first aid training, babysitter certification from the American Academy of Pediatrics, learning how to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and identifying them at schools, learning the Heimlich maneuver, and learning CPR for adults, children, and infants.
• Attending healthcare career panels at the FQHC, receiving tours of the facility, and establishing opportunities for job shadowing at the health centers.
• Participating in roundtable discussions with FQHC staff and graduate health professions students about healthcare career pathways while connecting and developing mentoring relationships with healthcare staff and health professions students.

Partner organizations include:

• Bucksport Regional Health Center
• Coastal Washington County Institute of Technology
• Deering High School
• Greater Portland Health
• Harrington Family Health Center
• Health Reach’s school-based Bulldog Health Center
• Lawrence Education Alternative Program
• Mt. Abram Regional High School
• Narraguagus Jr/Sr High School
• Sacopee Vallery Health Center
• Sacopee Valley High School
• Strong Area Health Center
• Regional Medical Center of Lubec

Scrub Clubs

The Western and Eastern Maine AHEC Centers offer Scrub Club programs every summer for students in grades 8–12. During the four-day Scrub Clubs, students rotate through a variety of hands-on health center exploration activities, including:

• Suturing
• Wound debridement
• Casting
• IV training
• Operating room simulations
• Life Flight of Maine tours and information sessions
• Mock accidents and rescue
• CPR and first aid certification from the American Heart Association
• Stop the Bleed certification
• Other activities with healthcare staff focused on nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy

The Western Maine AHEC Center at MaineHealth Franklin Hospital just finished its 19th annual Scrub Club, which they offer at the hospital for an average of 60 students per summer. The Eastern Maine AHEC Center at Healthy Acadia just finished its second Scrub Club, partnering with Harrington Family Health Center in 2025 and with Mount Desert Island Hospital in 2026.

For more information or questions about any of our Pathway Programs, please email Cera Catron-Burns, project coordinator for the Maine AHEC Network, at ccatron@une.edu.