AHEC - About Us

About Us

It matters where you learn

Who We Are
Advanced Health Education Center is the premier provider of corporate style education for the imaging sciences. Uniquely focused on providing our clients with courses that cross train them in a new skill, or sharpen existing skills, AHEC is on the cutting edge of imaging. Imaging technology is changing rapidly, and since 1988 Advanced Health Education Center has been committed to equipping our clients with the tools for today and the skills for tomorrow.

What We Do

Tom Whelan observes a student in his ultrasound hands-on scanning lab.

We are organized around one central idea -- we'll do whatever it takes to connect our clients with the latest information on ultrasound, mammography, bone densitometry, CT, MR, PACS administration, and digital imaging. Performance improvement seminars located in over 100 different cities throughout the year make it convenient to update existing skills, network with peers, and learn from the experts. Independent study and online education accommodate even the most hectic schedules, providing user-friendly, quality CE in several modalities. Your facility may even partner with AHEC to provide customized education to your employees and community at your location.

Incomparable Talent

Susan Sprinkle-Vincent, A.A.S., RT(R)(M) consults with two technicians at Alta Vista Regional Hospital, Las Vegas, NM.

AHEC instructors are simply the best in the business. The team is comprised of dozens of active members of local and national professional societies, educators with clinically relevant experience, and talented speakers with a wealth of information to share. Our clients rave about our faculty's clinical experience, as well as their eagerness to share their hard-earned experiences and answer follow-up questions.

Our Product

Mark Struthers, B.B.A., B.S.R.T., RT(R)(MR) instructs a student in his PACS class.

Our product is our experience and flexibility. Our team is equipped to help our clients achieve educational goals for themselves and their facilities by whatever means necessary. AHEC seminars and independent studies are based on the most current information available. Imaging is evolving rapidly. The digital shift requires new skills and terminology, and our team stands ready to help.

Consulting services for accreditation and image quality are available using our expert faculty. We can respond to the CME requirements as well as implementing the quality improvement programs necessary. Whether it's pre-assessment or full accreditation, we can deliver a service designed for your facility.

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Brief History
The Advanced Health Education Center is a private specialist in continuing medical education in technical skills for diagnostic imaging services. This unique position led to many requests for imaging specialists so the subsidiary d.b.a. MEDRelief Staffing was initiated. The staffing division has grown significantly because of the excellent quality reputation of the personnel and service.

Advanced Health Education Center began in 1988 to assist medical facilities to cross train existing personnel to meet the growing shortage in health care staffing. Short-term corporate style programs were designed and the first ultrasound class was admitted in 1989.

The growth of the company has followed a pattern, which traces and responds to the health care marketplace. As staffing shortages gripped healthcare in the last decade, Advanced Health Education Center responded by modifying the curriculum to the needs of staff and personnel having limited funds and time away from the workplace. Advanced Health Education Center also added traveling short courses to bring continuing education to many geographic regions where resources were minimal for development of local training.

The network provided by our education courses led to many requests for assistance in the public sector. This natural evolvement created a division for government contracts and staffing. Advanced Health Education Center began to bid government contracts and do staffing assignments in 1993.

AHEC has successfully completed 10 years of trainings for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors in Nuclear Medicine, Brachytherapy and Emerging Technologies. This Houston-based firm frequently hosts visitors from other countries, having students from more than 30 nations who have traveled to the Center to participate.

AHEC goes to Hong Kong to train physicians in ultrasound.

In continuing education and training, faculty delegations have been sent to Hong Kong to teach custom designed ultrasound courses. An additional team delivered on site mammography consultation services for a military facility in Japan. The Center has won and administered several state, private, and federal grants as well.

Advanced Health Education Center provides education courses and materials in forty states. The Center has a full time staff of thirty with a pool of over two thousand supplemental employees and sixty contract instructional staff.

The US Department of Labor has targeted the healthcare professionals as one of the high-demand occupations for the next decade. Industry experts predict that the current shortage will increase and continue past the year 2010. MEDRelief Staffing has continued to rise to meet the challenges in this demanding time. Starting out as a regional staffing firm, specializing in imaging professionals, MEDRelief Staffing has grown to become one of the most respected companies in the industry nationally.

MEDRelief Staffing expanded its field from imaging professionals adding its Nursing Services division in 1999.

In April of 2000, we moved from the regional market to the national level, placing personnel from coast to coast, in Alaska, and Hawaii.

In 2001, Advanced Health Education Center began consulting services for mammography, ultrasound, and digital technology. The group was formalized into the Technology Assessment and Guidance Group (TAGG). The technical experts provide services to outpatient imaging centers, clinics, hospitals, private physicians and physician groups, and commercial companies. The range of services is extensive, including image assessment, quality control and quality assurance, accreditation, education, private tutoring, hands-on training, and project management.

2002 brought additional diversity with the development and implementation of our Respiratory Care and Laboratory Services divisions. In April a business agreement with TeamStaff Rx, out of Clearwater, Fl. and MEDRelief Staffing took place as TeamStaff reorganized its holdings and business plan. MEDRelief assumed their local per diem nursing contractual obligations. September brought the purchase of RespiCare, a respiratory therapy staffing company. Another exciting element was added in December with the purchase of the Houston-based MacGraphix creating the Advanced Health Education Center Graphics Services.

While not all medical practices, clinics or hospital settings had the resources to provide high-quality diagnostic ultrasound testing for its patients, AHEC has allowed more to offer it through the creation of Cardiovascular Services in the fall of 2006. In response to a growing need to address the nation's leading killers -- stroke and heart disease -- Cardiovascular Services provides the convenience of trained personnel and the medical facility provides the space and patient flow.

Read more about Marilyn H. Sackett, M.Ed., RT(R), FASRT ~ President/CEO.

Such expansion has won us the accolades of the business community. We were recognized by the Houston Business Journal as part of the "Houston 100" the 100 fastest growing companies in the metropolitan area for both 2001 and 2002. Our President/CEO, Marilyn Sackett was honored in June 2002 by Ernst and Young as "Entrepreneur of the Year" for Business Services. Both the parent company Advanced Health Education Center and MEDRelief Staffing were featured in the MD News Magazine. Advanced Health Education Center was listed in Inc. Magazine's Inc 500 fastest-growing companies in 2003. MEDRelief staffing earned JCAHO certification in 2006, and 2007 brings re-accreditation of the physician educational program from the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). AHEC has been accredited by ACCME since 1998.

Our clinically experienced management team and "tech savvy" consultants offer a wealth of experience in the recruiting and placement of healthcare professionals nation wide. Our screening process includes background and reference checks, skill assessment, drug and health screening. We assist our clients in meeting the standards set forth by JCAHO and other accrediting bodies.

Our unique corporate partnership program is a value added service which allows facilities to accrue tuition credits which can be used for their own employees for continuing education classes, cross-training, home studies, online education, or consultation services. This program results in significant savings and rebates to our clients.

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