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Community Health Workers
Community Health Workers (CHWs) are a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served. This trusting relationship enables the worker to serve 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.
A CHW also 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.
CHWs make an impact in Kansas as they decrease challenges that keep everyone from living a healthy life and provide them access to make the healthiest choice the easiest choice.
Watch this brief video to learn more about how CHWs are chosen by their community.
Train CHWs with knowledge, roles and skills
- Increased, skills/capacity/roles to support COVID-19 public health response and chronic disease prevention.
- Increase reach of Community Health Workers influenced qualification efforts among populations of focus.
- Decrease impact of COVID-19 and chronic disease in high risk populations. Increase community flexibility to respond to COVID-19 and future public health emergencies.
Deploy CHWs to support the COVID-19 public health response.
- Increase workforce of Community Health Workers delivering services to manage spread of COVID-19 and chronic disease prevention.
- Promote and integrate Community Health Workers into existing workforce in focused populations.
- Decrease impact of COVID-19 and chronic disease in high risk populations. Increase community resilience to respond to Covid-19 and future public health emergencies.
Engage CHWs to help build and strengthen community resilience.
- Increase use of community resources and clinical services for those at high risk for poor health outcomes among populations of focus.
- Increase delivery of community resources and clinical services to those at highest risk for poor health outcomes in populations of focus.
- Decrease impact of COVID-19 and chronic disease in high risk populations. Increase community flexibility to respond to COVID-19 and future public health emergencies.