2010 Census Reminder!
In 2004, the team developing the CHW National Workforce Study for the Health Resources and Services Administration noted that there were no employer data or Census figures for the number of CHWs nationally. This lack of data, coupled with the U.S. Labor Department’s announcement that it would be considering the first series of revisions to its Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system in time for the 2010 Census, spurred the CHW Section Policy Committee to develop a consensus definition of the occupation of the CHW. After much debate over a year and a half, the Committee’s definition was submitted to the Labor Department for consideration. HRSA also recommended officially that such a category be created. Consequently the final SOC revisions include a separate classification for CHWs. We encourage you to check this box so that we will be counted.
A Call to Action
In our Fall 2009 Issue, Durrell Fox asked all CHW Section members to respond to APHA Action Alerts and participate in APHA legislative advocacy activities and monthly calls. We need our voices heard and our views represented in these discussions and activities:
Please respond to APHA Action Alerts and take action by contacting your members of Congress. APHA has a new system in place that has made it easier than ever for APHA members to quickly contact their members of Congress. Many of these e-mails will come from the legislativenews@apha.org e-mail address and will include monthly legislative updates that list the call-in information for monthly legislative update calls. You can navigate to APHA Advocacy and Policy through www.APHA.org or go to this link to directly connect to Action Alerts: http://action.apha.org/site/PageNavigator/Advocacy. We also urge you to get involved or continue your involvement in the APHA Public Health ACTion (PHACT) Campaign, which jumps into high gear during each August Congressional recess, but this year also continues through the fall. For more information and to get involved with PHACT and to access the APHA Health Reform Advocacy Toolkit please follow this link: http://www.apha.org/advocacy/tips/PHACT+Campaign.htm
Committee Members Needed: The mission of the Policy Committee of the CHW Section is to engage and organize members who will work to analyze, respond to, and help shape public policy at the national, state and local level related to the community health worker profession. (APHA priorities: access to care, reducing health disparities and supporting public health infrastructure)
We are looking for new members to join this committee. If you are interested in joining the Policy Committee, we will convene by conference call every other month on the second Friday of each of those months. Our next meeting will be on March. 12, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. ET. An agenda and call-in number will be sent out. If you are interested in joining this committee, please contact Anne Willaert at anne.willaert@mnsu.edu or Jewel L. Bell at jewelb@cityofmiddletown.org
SUCCESS IN PHILADELPHIA
The CHW SPIG achieved SECTION status!! This application was submitted in August 2009 and approved by the Inter-Sectional Council, Executive Board and Governing Council. Now that we have become a SECTION, we will have designated representation on the Governing Council, and provide the opportunity for CHWs and our allies and partners to run for the unaffiliated at-large seats in addition.
APHA’S Governing Council voted and approved proposed policy, A-1, “Support for Community Health Workers to Increase Health Access and to Reduce Health Inequities” at APHA’s 137th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The full policy is posted online at www.apha.org/advocacy/policy.
The policy is “20091 Community Health Workers;” it is follow-up to the 2001 APHA policy recognizing and supporting community health workers’ role in meeting health care needs. It recognizes a community health worker definition; identifies challenges to community health worker workforce development; calls for raising awareness of community health workers; supports strong continuing education and capacity building and calls for reimbursement for community health worker services.
Our Annual General Business Meeting was well attended. Dr Kyu Rhee, Chief Public Health Officer at HRSA, shared that U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is very supportive of CHWs, and asked to establish formal contact between HRSA and the CHW Section. Carol Wolff of the Camden AHEC in NJ also shared national AHEC interests to develop a more formalized relationship with our Section.
SECTION BEGINS TO DRAFT HEALTH REFORM POLICY STATEMENTS
Aaron Shakow, who works with the Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) Project in Dorchester, Mass., and Rebecca Pollard, of Phillip Johnston Associates (legislative affairs consultants) generously offered to work with us to discuss and achieve a national strategy for CHW-focused congressional outreach. It was approximately a seven-day, around-the-clock project, and the Provisions in the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” related to Community Health Workers was complete. In this document we identified sections of the latest House and Senate bills that we believe will strengthen this effort and ought to be maintained as the chambers negotiate a final bill. We also outlined some provisions in the bill in which we recommend adding language that will specifically allow community health workers to play a greater role in improving health outcomes and lessening health inequities. You can go to this link to review the document: http://machw.org/documents/CHW_Capitol_Outreach_Doc_Draft_25Nov09.doc. Thanks to all that were able to participate in the development of, and support for, by signing this important document.
FUTURE COLLABORATIONS
Don Proulx of the University of Arizona, representing the National AHEC Organization (NAO), says they have discussed the feasibility of developing more formalized collaboration between the NAO CHW Workgroup and our Section. They also have an interest in developing a white paper for NAO on the growing/expanding role of CHWs in the work force, particularly within the current climate and future direction of health care reform. We are beginning talks with NAO for future collaborations.