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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Durrell Fox, BSBA, New England HIV Education Consortium & Boston HAPPENS, 23 Miner Street, Floor G, Boston, MA 02215-3318, Pam McBurnie, South Boston Community Health Center, 409 West Broadway, South Boston, MA 02127, and Lisa Renee Siciliano, LSWA, Pro Health/WIC Program, Montachusett Opportunity Council, 689 Main Street, Fitchburg, MA 01420, (978)343-6259, dfoxnehec@aol.com.
Presentation Content: The Massachusetts Community Health Worker (MACHW) Network is statewide and regional levels. The Network has organized to address the training needs of CHWs, to educate the public, funders, policy makers, and providers about the important role of CHWs in public health, and to advocate for better policies to support and sustain CHWs. It also identified the need for networking opportunities which could bring CHWs from across the state together to inform each other about the work they are doing and to share lessons learned and effective outreach/health education strategies. Originally, support for this organization came from a number of sources: from the state health department (in part, through a HRSA MCHB Community Integrated Service Systems [CISS] Award), from the March of Dimes, Massachusetts Chapter, and from a number of other key Massachusetts agencies with an interest in promoting CHWs.
The MACHW Network has undergone an intensive strategic planning process to identify barriers to sustainability and strategies for overcoming them. This strategic plan is a blueprint to move forward in becoming an effective independent CHW organization. Some key strategies identified include: attaining fiscal independence, building agency support for CHW participation in network activities, strengthening CHW leadership in the organization and recruiting more CHWs to participate. MACHW Network Steering Committee members will, through the use of interactive discussion and group activities, provide a brief overview of barriers that CHW organizations might encounter, and share both strategies and solutions to overcome them in order to achieve sustainability for a statewide network of Community Health Workers.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community Health Advisor, Community Outreach
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.