Community health workers (CHWs) are playing an increasingly important role in the healthcare system. The Northwest Regional Primary Care Association (NWRPCA) has launched a Community Health Worker Institute will serve as a training, technical assistance, and resource hub for community health centers to help them more effectively train, support and integrate CHWs into health center care teams. It will also promote ways to leverage the CHW model to strengthen the health care system while advancing public health.
Evidence shows that CHWs are uniquely able to serve as a liaison between healthcare, social services, and the community. They facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery. Yet despite this vital role, efforts to integrate, train, and promote their engagement in community health centers, and across systems of care, remain fragmented.
While engaging with patients directly, CHWs often work to address community-level health issues — food insecurity, unsafe housing conditions such as lead paint or rodent and bug infestations that can worsen asthma symptoms, or neighborhood environmental issues. Yet this vital work is not always reimbursable.
The Institute will also promote sustainable policy approaches to CHW engagement. To help develop the Institute's work, NWRPCA will engage partners with expertise in public health, community health worker training and professional development. The Institute is being launched with a grant from the RCHN Community Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in New York City devoted exclusively to supporting community health centers. Based in Seattle, the Institute will:
• Build capacity, leadership, and professional development for CHWs;
• Provide organizational development to integrate CHWs in community health center systems; and,
• Lead policy development to support the CHW workforce and strengthening the CHW model in healthcare.
"Community health workers are vital to the community health center model, but there is a lack of consistency in terms of workforce support, training, and standards," said NWRPCA's Director of Strategic Initiatives Seth Doyle, in a statement. "Our new Institute will provide access to high-level training, deepen the understanding of the role of community health workers within medical homes and the healthcare system, and promote greater recognition of their impact on addressing the social determinants of health."
"Engaging at the community level is the key to improving health," said Patrick Luedtke, M.D., senior public health officer of Lane County, Ore., and current NWRPCA board chair, in a statement "For example, the COVID-19 vaccine will travel at the speed of trust and community health workers are key to developing trust."
