Outreach Worker Training Institute: Training powered by practicing community health workers (CHWs)

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Tatyana Gorodetsky, MEd (eq), Director, Outreach Worker Training Institute (OWTI), Central Massachusetts Area Health Education Center, Inc. (CM AHEC), 4 Lancaster Terrace, Worcester, MA 01609-3108, 508-756-6676 Ext. 12, tatyana@cmahec.org, Curtis Lopes, CHW, Coordinator, Men's Health Services, Pro Health, A Division of Montachusett Opportunity Council, Inc., Professional Building at Burbank, 326 Nichols Road, Suite 26, Fitchburg, MA 01420, and Joanne L. Calista, LICSW, Executive Director, Central Massachusetts Area Health Education Center, Inc. (CM AHEC), 4 Lancaster Terrace, Worcester, MA 01609-3108.

This seminar will offer an overview of the Central MA Area Health Education Center's Outreach Worker Training Institute (OWTI), which utilizes the unique program model of partnering with Community Health Workers (CHWs) at every level of program development, implementation, evaluation and policy planning. The OWTI is an innovative career-focused, college supported, credit bearing educational pipeline for CHWs and their supervisors in health and social services. The OWTI's mission is to reduce health disparities through the engagement of Central Massachusetts' CHWs and their supervisors in comprehensive educational opportunities for knowledge and skill building advocacy and professional development.

The seminar will be led by the OWTI Director and an OWTI graduate who is also an OWTI faculty member, and a programmatic/policy development advisor.

The seminar's participants will learn about the OWTI as an innovative, effective, and replicable model of CHW professional development powered by integral involvement of CHWs as partners in all aspects of program implementation and evaluation. Our belief in the inherent value of CHWs translates into the CHWs' integration in the Institute's team instructing model utilizing the CHWs as co-instructors paired with the higher education institutions instructors.

The seminar will also highlight of the OWTI's strategic partnership with the Massachusetts Community Health Worker (MACHW) Network and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), which have served as leaders in the support and advancement of CHWs in Massachusetts.

Learning Objectives:

On completion of this session, the participant should be able to

1.Identify and recognize 5 critical roles that CHWs have played in the development and implementation of the OWTI
2.Identify and prioritize 3 strategies to involve the practicing, experienced CHWs in the OWTI educational process
3.Analyze 3 challenges related to the faculty recruitment, instructing team composition, and class content development
4.Define and list 3 benefits and advantages of the CHWs’ participation in the OWTI certificate courses evolution and growth.

Keywords: Community Health, Professional Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Capacity Building and Training for CHWs

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA