Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences
Inspiring & educating today’s young Alabamians to become tomorrow’s healthcare workforce.
Good for Alabama
A School for Alabama and Beyond
The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, slated to open in the fall of 2026, will become the fourth residential high school in the state. With an education in Demopolis, where the primary healthcare provider is the heartbeat of the community, students will discover the value of their service as community healthcare professionals and what it means to make a true difference to that community. Armed with training and certification, graduates will fill healthcare jobs across the State of Alabama and make immediate, positive contributions in an industry that has a dire need for trained professionals. In order toimprove the health of rural Alabamians, building rural healthcare leaders will be the priority of this school.
What makes this school special, though, is its far-reaching impact across the state and nation, including:
World-Class Education
- First-of-its-kind curriculum to serve as a national model
- Hands-on clinical training in STEMM pathways
- Exposure to diverse healthcare opportunities
- Leader among national peers pursuing similar initiatives
Statewide Reach
- Student recruitment from all 67 counties
- Internships, employment opportunities with statewide hospitals and clinics
- Well-rounded, diverse applicants based on unique backgrounds
- Students selected for personal qualities, as well as academic achievement
Economic Success
- A healthy Alabama is a prosperous Alabama
- ASHS will attract investment, create jobs, foster economic development
- Purposeful approach to reduce rural healthcare disparities across the state
- Increasing rural healthcare workforce increases preventative care
What’s Next?
- Construction of ASHS slated to begin in Spring 2025
- School Board of Trustees to be appointed, leadership team hired
- ASHS Foundation to continue building financial support for the school
A Health Partners of ASHS
News & Announcements
The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences Foundation is a charitable, 501c3 organization with the sole purpose of providing both financial and educational support for the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, scheduled to open in the fall of 2026. This residential, specialty high school, part of the Alabama public school system, will offer curricula, instruction and work-based training focused on the health sciences to prepare students for career-readiness in the healthcare industry. Among the chief purposes of the school is to alleviate the rural healthcare workforce shortage in Alabama.
Why Demopolis, Alabama?
Strong Community Commitment
• City of Demopolis plans to donate a strategic site located next to the hospital to provide easy walking access.
• Whitfield Regional Hospital is a member of UAB Health System, a one-of-a-kind rural hospital that offers labor and delivery, state-of-the-art ICU, as well as cutting edge robotic surgery.
• Whitfield Regional has already immersed itself in higher education opportunities with the University of Alabama, UAB, University of West Alabama, Wallace Community College, and Coastal Community College.
Proven Commitment for County Growth
• In 2019, the citizens of Marengo County voted on a self-imposed property tax to help fund Whitfield Regional Hospital.
• In 2021, Marengo Countypassed a 1% Sales Tax to better fund all five city and county public schools.
Rising Need for Rural Healthcare Workers
• 55 out of 67 of the counties in Alabama are considered rural.
• The U.S. could face a shortage of 124,000 healthcare workers by the year 2034.
• Fostering a robust healthcare workforce in rural areas will create more accessible care, increase the number of long-term jobs, and set the stage for continued rural healthcare development across the state of Alabama.
Why Demopolis, Alabama?
Rural Health in Alabama is in desperate and increasing need for improved health care opportunities for its residents. 37% of Alabama’s population lives in rural areas; however, less than 20% of trained healthcare professionals live in these areas. With the help of the UAB Health System, Demopolis has created a tertiary care hospital right in the heart of the Black Belt which handles some of the most severe health issues in our country. Over the last five years the success of the program has been recognized both nationally and internationally for the way it performed during the Covid -19 pandemic. Whitfield Regional Hospital is a level three trauma center, and regional stroke center. The hospital also provides advanced wound care, robotic surgery, labor and delivery services, cardiology services, renal failure services, oncology services and many additional services once thought to only be possible to deliver in urban areas. In addition, Whitfield has arguably become the most technologically advanced rural hospital in the state with direct care provided by UAB around the clock through sophisticated tele-technology. The hospital is the only off-campus ICU program in the state monitored around the clock by UAB Intensivist. Additionally, Whitfield, with the help of UAB, serves as a training sight for many nursing and other medical programs through relationships with Wallace Community College, University of Alabama, University of West Alabama, Coastal Community College and many others. The proposed location for the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences will be located directly adjacent to Whitfield Regional Hospital, allowing these students to see these services delivered in a hands-on environment. Programs will be developed allowing them to have dual-enrollment at both ASHS and the new Wallace Community College Training center. This will allow many of these young people to come out of high school prepared to step in and begin filling the vast needs in our state for their service. This is the right time, right place and right thing to do for our state, rural Alabama and the young individuals that will benefit from the unique opportunities this project provides them.
– Doug Brewer
