2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

325868
Developing the CHW Workforce through policy and system change


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Mary Lou Woodford, RN, BSN, MBA, CCM, School of Healthcare Management, Northeastern University, southboro, MA
Once, it might have been enough to train community health workers in a room with the help of a slideshow presentation or handouts. Now, however, CHWs and their teams are rapidly expanding across health systems and communities. Organizations must find a better way to reach and teach them with consistency.

This session will showcase different training methods that suit a variety of conditions including geographically isolated environments and metropolitan hubs. It will review the differences and lessons learned from conducting systematic training in a large public health system and a complex healthcare structure. The session will explore the types of policy and system change that may be necessary to build a legacy program for developing the CHW workforce. Using case studies from successful programs across the country, this presentation will explore the advantages, disadvantages and planning requirements needed to build a comprehensive, practical and sustainable education program for community health workers and public health professionals.

Learning Objectives:

  • Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of training and support tools.
  • Discuss the challenges of offering standardized education to CHWs in geographically diverse work settings
  • Describe the policy and system change that resulted in improved participation in CHW training.
  • Explain how e-learning and in-person training can be combined to create an optimal solution for training CHWs who work in diverse and disparate work environments.
  • Discuss the planning requirements to developing a sustainable legacy program for training and developing the CHW workforce

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs

Learning Objectives:
Describe the policy and system changes that are needed to improve participation in CHW training programs

Keyword(s): Health Promotion and Education, Workforce Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Mary Lou Woodford; Executive Director of the Cancer Resource Foundation, Inc, She received her BS in Nursing from the University of Connecticut and her MBA from the University of Massachusetts. She is a CCM certified case manager. She was the Director of Women’s Health at the Massachusetts DPH from 1998 through 2011 where she developed, implemented and evaluated the CHW patient navigator training program. She is Adjunct Professor at Northeastern University’s School of Healthcare Management.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4307.0: Strategies for supporting the CHW workforce in the field and in the clinic