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The Forecaster on Feb. 19th ran a story on a new federally-funded program aimed at preparing future health professionals to serve immigrants, refugees and other underserved populations that is a cooperative program between 91ֱ����Ƶand the Portland Community Health Center, in collaboration with the City of Portland, the Portland Housing Authority and Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services.

The project, titled 'CHANNELS,' is made possible by a $1.27 million grant to 91ֱ����Ƶand Portland Community Health Center from the Health Services Research Administration (HRSA).

“It really is a project that is designed to improve the health of immigrants and refugees in Portland and it could be translated to really any area that has a large number of that population,” Jen Morton, associate professor of nursing and director of Cross Cultural Health Initiatives at UNE, told the Forecaster. “It is doing that by increasing the capacity for students to be better equipped to take care of these patients and help existing health professionals.”

Morton said that while a lot of outside work has been done to prepare the program, it really begins in the classroom.

“We are starting in the classroom, providing better education (to nursing students) on cultural competence and immigrant and refugee health. Then we are taking students and providing experiential, clinical and preceptor-based experiences so they are able to use these skills in that setting,” said Morton.