New Member Welcome Packet
We welcome new Members to the CHW Section! Download a welcome packet describing the Section and our activities (PDF)
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This section includes
- Update from APHA 2011 Midyear Event
- Action Alerts
- Policy Updates
- Section Committee Updates
- Programs and Resources
APHA 2011 Midyear Event
Cindy Martin of the APHA CHW Section attending the 2011 Midyear Event in Chicago and put together the following report. FinalReportofAPHAMidyearEventCHWSection.pdf
ACTION ALERTS
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 throughwww.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
POLICY UPDATES
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. Read the full policy.
Support for Community Health Workers to Increase Health Access and to Reduce Health Inequities
Policy Date: 11/10/2009
Policy Number: 20091
20091 Community health workers — Follow-up to 2001 APHA policy recognizing and supporting community health workers’ role in meeting health care needs. Recognizes a community health worker definition, identifies challenges to community health worker work force 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.
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, MA 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 (7) 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. The document is available for you to review (MS Word). 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 workforce particularly within the current climate and future direction of Health Care Reform. We are beginning talks with NAO for future collaborations.
SECTION COMMITTEE UPDATES
pending
PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES
Community Advocacy Survey
by Maia Ingram
Dear Community Health Workers!
The Canyon Ranch Center for Prevention and Health Promotion (CRCPHP) at the University of Arizona is initiating a national survey on CHW community advocacy called Acción Para La Salud/Action for Health. The idea for the survey grew out of collaborative work between the CRCPHP, one of the CDC funded Prevention Research Centers, and the Arizona Community Health Worker Network (AzCHOW). In 2007, we conducted a study of community advocacy activities among CHWs in Arizona, the results of which can be found at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/y375343181293m4r/. Through this survey, we became aware that although advocacy is considered a core competency for CHWs, little is known about the extent of CHW community advocacy nationally. We decided to conduct a similar survey with CHWs nationwide and include questions about: Job description and activities; Training; Capacity building, or experience; Leadership skills; and Advocacy activities.
Through this survey the CRCPHP hopes to learn more about the advocacy work of community health workers and especially about community advocacy. If you would like to participate and you are currently working as a Community Health Worker (also known as promotor(a) de salud, lay health worker, lay health advisor, patient navigator, community health representative, and community health aide) please do so:
Español
English
Also, look for the survey at upcoming CHW conferences!
Maia Ingram
Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
PO Box 245209
Tucson, AZ 85724
520 626-2267
Massachusetts: New State Report Finds Community Health Workers Help Improve Health Care Access and Quality
On January 14, 2010, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released a major new report on the key role that community health workers play in improving health outcomes and reducing health disparities among Massachusetts residents. The report, Community Health Workers in Massachusetts: Improving Health Care and Public Health, was produced by the Community Health Worker Advisory Council, a group of public and private sector leaders convened as a result of the landmark 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law. The report was unveiled by Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. JudyAnn Bigby and Department of Public Health (DPH) Commissioner John Auerbach at an event at the State House.
"As we continue to address issues of health care access, cost, and quality, this report provides valuable information about effective models for improving the health of vulnerable populations," said Secretary Bigby. "We thank the Community Health Worker Advisory Council for its hard work, thorough research, and creativity in recommending opportunities for strengthening health systems in Massachusetts. We will use this report to inform our work on reforms in primary care to develop patient-centered medical homes."
The umbrella term "community health worker" (CHW) refers to public health workers who typically come from the communities they serve and focus their efforts in home and community-based health education, outreach, advocacy and health system navigation. The report found that Massachusetts has nearly 3,000 community health workers working under various job titles in hospitals, community health centers, immigrant and refugee service providers, public health programs and other settings across the state.
In preparing the report, the Community Health Workers Advisory Council found strong evidence showing that CHWs are effective in:
- Assisting individuals and families to obtain and maintain health insurance;
- Increasing access to and use of preventive education, screenings and treatment services;
- Reducing unnecessary use of urgent care;
- Improving self-management of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure; and
- Strengthening patient health literacy and culturally competent provider practices.
DPH Commissioner Auerbach said, "This document will not only influence work in Massachusetts, but it also adds to the growing national body of evidence that community health workers need to be integrated into health care reform at all levels."
The report also found significant challenges for the CHW workforce, including low wages, high turnover, and limited job security due to a dependence on grant funding. The report includes 34 recommendations related to four categories—professional identity, workforce development, financing, and infrastructure development—as ways to address these challenges.
The full text of Community Health Workers in Massachusetts: Improving Health Care and Public Health is available for download from the Department of Public Health.
The Department of Public Health has, in response to the recommendation for statewide infrastructure, established the Office of Community Health Workers: www.mass.gov/dph/communityhealthworkers.
CHWs and Social Justice
The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting is “Social Justice: A Public Health Imperative,” and community health workers have a vital role to play in addressing social justice issues. For one important perspective, we can turn our attention to a recent commentary in the American Journal of Public Health, “Community Health Workers: Social Justice and Policy Advocates for Community Health and Well-Being,” by Leda M. Pérez, PhD, and Jacqueline Martinez, MPH.
This commentary addresses how CHWs are resources to their communities and to the advocacy and policy world on several levels, connecting people to care and gathering information from their communities to help shape better public health policy, acting as advocates for social justice. Please read this important article at Am J Public Health. 2008;98:11–14. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.100842.