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Community Health Workers
What is a Community Health Worker? The American Public Health Association defines a community health worker as a person who:
- Is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served.
- Serves as a liaison/link/intermediary between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.
- Builds individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency through a range of activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support and advocacy.
 On the Calendar - Stay Tuned for Upcoming Events
Meetings/Related Information
Michigan Department of Community Health - Community Health Worker Survey
Community Health Workers - Links and Additional information
- Bureau of Labor and Statistics Definition of a Community Health Worker (April 2013) - http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes211094.htm
- CHW highlighted as a narrative piece in the latest edition of Health Affairs - January 2013
- Joseph F. West, To Fight Bad Suga', Or Diabetes, My Neighborhood Needs More Health Educators. Health Affairs, 32, no.1 (2013):184-187
- Bringing the Concepts of Peer Coaches and Local Health Workers from Africa to Harlem - Health Affairs, published on-line November 2012
- MiCHWA's annual meeting (October 2012) - http://www.michwa.org/news-events/annual-meeting-2012/
- Community Health Workers as Drivers of a Successful Community-Based Disease Management Initiative - American Journal of Public Health, August 2012, Vol 102, No.8
- Effectiveness of a CHW Intervention among African American and Latino adults with Type 2 Diabetes - American Journal of Public Health, December 2011, Vol 101, No 12, Spencer et al.
- Effect of the Healthy MOMS Lifestyle Intervention On Reducing Depressive Symptoms Among Pregnant Latinas - American Journal of Community Psychology, May 26, 2012
- Diabetes and Community Health Workers - A Piece of the Health Care Puzzle - May, 2008
Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance (MICHWA) Update Newsletter
Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance (MICHWA) Social Media
Continuing Education
- New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Online Course: COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS. The course is led by instructors from CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and focuses on the important role CHWs play in preventing and controlling chronic disease.
- Topics include: Recommendations for building a sustainable CHW workforce; Strategies for systems changes to facilitate the inclusion of CHWs as sustainable members of health care teams; Resources that can assist state health departments in successfully engaging CHWs in chronic disease prevention and control efforts. You may view the course in its entirety or one module at a time, individually or together with colleagues.
- The CDC offers a course on Promoting Policy and Systems Change To Expand Employment of Community Health Workers (CHWs). This course is designed to provide state programs and other stakeholders with basic knowledge about Community Health Workers (CHWs), such as official definitions of CHWs, workforce development, and other topic areas. In addition, the course covers how states can become engaged in policy and systems change efforts to establish sustainability for the work of CHWs, including examples of states that have proven success in this arena.
Click here for more information on this CDC Course .
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