Community Health Workers In Action

Community Health Workers in Action proposes support and expansion of the role of community health workers in meeting the health needs of marginalized groups in United States cities (although their potential reach is not limited to any one group or geographical section). Given the health inequities that continue to touch the lives of millions of people of color across the country, these professionals' efforts--which translate to innovative, community-centered responses designed to reach particularly vulnerable populations--are quite timely. In order to truly understand the topic of health care, one must first explore its historical contexts, socio-cultural factors, and the ways in which values play a critical role in shaping a worldview of the right to quality care. This book offers readers a window into the dynamic field that continues to expand in highly creative and cost-effective ways, which ultimately shape one major piece of the complicated puzzle that is health care in America.

Foundations for Community Health Workers Foundations for Community Health Workers is a training resource for client- and community-centered public health practitioners, with an emphasis on promoting health equality. Based on City College of San Francisco's CHW Certificate Program, it begins with an overview of the historic and political context informing the practice of community health workers. The second section of the book addresses core competencies for working with individual clients, such as behavior change counseling and case management, and practitioner development topics such as ethics, stress management, and conflict resolution. The book's final section covers skills for practice at the group and community levels, such as conducting health outreach and facilitating community organizing and advocacy. Praise for Foundations for Community Health Workers "This book is the first of its kind: a manual of core competencies and curricula for training community health workers. Covering topics from health inequalities to patient-centered counseling, this book is a tremendous resource for both scholars of and practitioners in the field of community-based medicine. It also marks a great step forward in any setting, rich or poor, in which it is imperative to reduce health disparities and promote genuine health and well-being." Paul E. Farmer, MD., PhD, Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Social Medicine in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; founding director, Partners In Health. "This book is based on the contributions of experienced CHWs and advocates of the field. I am confident that it will serve as an inspiration for many CHW training programs." Yvonne Lacey, CHW, former coordinator, Black Infant Health Program, City of Berkeley Health Department; former chair, CHW Special Interest Group for the APHA. "This book masterfully integrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of a CHW through storytelling and real life case examples. This simple and elegant approach brings to life the intricacies of the work and espouses the spirit of the role that is so critical to eliminating disparities a true model educational approach to emulate." Gayle Tang, MSN, RN., director, National Linguistic and Cultural Programs, National Diversity, Kaiser Permanente "Finally, we have a competency-based textbook for community health worker education well informed by seasoned CHWs themselves as well as expert contributors." Donald E. Proulx, CHW National Education Collaborative, University of Arizona

Conclusion: Listening to Community Health Workers: Recommendations for Action and Research -- Recruit Strong CHWs and Provide Supportive Supervision -- Emphasize the Humanity of Patients, Quality of Life, and Empathic Care -- Build Solid Relationships across Social Dividing Lines -- Finance the Creation of Secure CHW Jobs -- Strengthen CHW Participation in Processes of Social Change -- Conduct Better Research and More of It -- United, Spider Webs Can Tie Up a Lion -- References -- Index.

Community health workers (CHWs) are an increasingly important member of the healthcare and public health professions who help build primary care capacity. Yet, in spite of the exponential growth of CHW interventions, CHW training programs, and CHW certification and credentialing by state agencies, a gap persists in the literature regarding current CHW roles and skills, scope of practice, CHW job settings, and national standards. This collection of contributions addresses this gap by providing information, in a single volume, about CHWs, the roles CHWs play as change agents in their communities, integration of CHWs into healthcare teams, and support and recognition of the CHW profession. The book supports the CHW definition as defined by the American Public Health Association (APHA), Community Health Worker Section (2013), which states, “A community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served.” The scope of the text follows the framework of the nationally recognized roles of CHWs that came out of a national consensus-building project called “The Community Health Worker (CHW) Core Consensus (C3) Project”. Topics explored among the chapters include: Cultural Mediation Among Individuals, Communities, and Health and Social Service Systems Care Coordination, Case Management, and System Navigation Advocating for Individuals and Communities Building Individual and Community Capacity Implementing Individual and Community Assessments Participating in Evaluation and Research Uniting the Workforce: Building Capacity for a National Association of Community Health Workers Promoting the Health of the Community is a must-have resource for CHWs, those interested in CHW scope of practice and/or certification/credentialing, anyone interested in becoming a CHW, policy-makers, CHW payer systems, CHW supervisors, CHW employers, CHW instructors/trainers, CHW advocates/supporters, and communities served by CHWs.

A majority of people living in rural areas and urban slums worldwide have minimal access to healthcare. Without information about what to give a child with stomach flu, how to relieve the pain of a broken bone, and how to work against increased substance abuse in a village, the whole community suffers. Children, adolescents, adults, and older people are all affected by the lack of what many of us view as basic healthcare, such as vaccination, pain killers, and contraceptives. To improve living conditions and life expectancy, the people in urban slums and rural areas need access to a trained health care worker, and a functioning clinic. Setting up Community Health and Development Programmes in Low and Middle Income Settings illustrates how to start, develop, and maintain a health care programme in poor areas across the world. The focus is on the community, and how people can work together to improve health through sanitation, storage of food, fresh water, and more. Currently, there is a lack of 17 million trained health care workers worldwide. Bridging the gap between medical professionals and people in low income areas, the aim of this book is for a member of the community to receive training and become the health care worker in their village. They will then in turn spread information and set up groups working to improve health. The book also explains in detail how communities can work alongside experts to ensure that practices and processes work effectively to bring the greatest impact. Copiously illustrated and written in easy-to-read English, this practical guide is designed to be extremely user friendly. Ideal for academics, students, programme managers, and health care practitioners in low and middle income settings worldwide, it is an evidence based source full of examples from the field. Setting up Community Health and Development Programmes in Low and Middle Income Settings shows how a community can both identify and solve its own problems, and in that way own its future. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC 4.0 International licence.

This book examines the present and future role of community health workers (CHW) as part of ongoing efforts to develop sustainable health systems and improve public health. Noting that many programs based on the use of community health workers have fallen short of initial expectations, the book draws on numerous evaluations conducted over the past three decades to identify problems, explore their roots, and propose concrete solutions. Information ranges from advice on the composition and functions of village health committees through a discussion of the effect of cost recovery programs on community participation, to the simple reminder that programs that were never correctly implemented should not be dismissed as ineffective. Throughout lessons learned from past experiences are discussed in terms of their relevance to market-oriented reforms that are currently changing the health sector. The analysis is presented according to three main groups of factors known to have an impact on the performance of CHW programs. Attitudes are considered in the first chapter, which aims to define the actions health authorities can take to improve the attitudes of health workers and communities towards each other. Proposals include changes in selection criteria, curricula, teaching methods, on-the-job training, and supervision. Ways to increase community participation are also discussed. Chapter two focuses on the management and structure of district health systems as an area where organizational reform could have a significant impact on the success of CHW programs. Three components of the district health system are given particular attention: health service structure, health management structure, and health development structure. Practical advice is given for improving the functions of village health committees securing community participation and involving traditional healers. The final chapter, on resources, considers the important issues of remuneration, planning and budgeting for programs, and mechanisms for securing financing from governments, communities, and the private sector. Experiences from Thailand and Jamaica are used to explore methods for assessing program costs. The book concludes with a call for continuing international commitment to the CHW concept and a discussion of the main challenges likely to confront programs in the future. .

Community Health Workers in Action proposes support and expansion of the role of community health workers in meeting the health needs of marginalized groups in United States cities (although their potential reach is not limited to any one group or geographical section). Given the health inequities that continue to touch the lives of millions of people of color across the country, these professionals' efforts--which translate to innovative, community-centered responses designed to reach particularly vulnerable populations--are quite timely. In order to truly understand the topic of health care, one must first explore its historical contexts, socio-cultural factors, and the ways in which values play a critical role in shaping a worldview of the right to quality care. This book offers readers a window into the dynamic field that continues to expand in highly creative and cost-effective ways, which ultimately shape one major piece of the complicated puzzle that is health care in America.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.