For immediate use
Oct. 29, 2002 -- No. 589
Allied Health Professions Week
to be celebrated with public speech
By LANITA WITHERS
UNC News Services
CHAPEL HILL -- They clean our teeth, perform ultrasounds, take
X-rays and contribute in dozens of other ways to maintaining
everyone's health. Collectively, these medical experts in more
than 100 different fields are called allied health professionals.
They'll be celebrated nationwide Nov. 3-9, proclaimed Allied
Health Professions Week, through events including a speech at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Steve Wilson,
dean of allied health sciences at Ohio State University, will
speak to the Council for Allied Health in North Carolina during
its Nov. 6 meeting, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the board
room of the UNC General Administration Building, 910 Raleigh
Road, Chapel Hill. The event will be free and open to the public.
The Council is headquartered in the UNC School of Medicine's
allied health sciences department.
"Allied health practitioners constitute approximately 60
percent of all health care providers and greatly influence health
care delivery by supporting, facilitating and complementing
the roles of physicians and other health care specialists,"
said Dr. Tom Bacon, Council chair and director of the North
Carolina Area Health Education Centers, based in UNC's medical
school. "The new era in health-care delivery finds allied
health professionals employed in public and private sectors,
not only in hospitals, but in our schools, clinics, laboratories,
nursing homes, mental health facilities, private medical practices,
research institutions, public health services and pharmaceutical
companies," he said.
Dental hygienists, dietitians, audiologists, physical therapists
and physician's assistants are among the ranks of allied health
professionals. Many are members of the Virginia-based Health
Professions Network, which promotes Allied Health Professions
Week nationally each year.
Gov. Mike Easley proclaimed the week in North Carolina, asking
citizens to "join me in celebrating the contributions of
our allied health professionals in their continual efforts to
sustain and improve the delivery of highest quality health care
in this state."
For more information about the UNC event, contact Andrea Catenaro,
Council assistant, at 966-8566; about the council, visit http://www.alliedhealthcouncilNC.org;
about the national week, visit http://www.healthpronet.org.
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(Withers is a senior in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication
from Reidsville.)
Contact: Andrea Catenaro, 966-8566, andrea_catenaro@med.unc.edu
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