![]() Jackson said there are about 1,500 CHWs in Virginia, but there could be more who are working in a volunteer capacity and not counted. He said people also ask for help for non-health-related issues such as SNAP or overcoming language barriers to filling out a driver's license application. He said his work ranges from helping people get a dental appointment but they do not have transportation or get treatment for an illness without health insurance. And this has been a really great opportunity to help people with a right wide variety of things," Siefring said. It kind of gets me out of bed at the beginning of the day. "I think going through it, I just have a drive to help people. But, this might if we present it like this or if we change our education to be like this.'"Īmong the four CHWs at Chesterfield is Richard Siefring, who began working in the public health field at the start of the pandemic as a contact tracer and kept with it as they transitioned him to more work out in the community. This isn't going to resonate with people in my neighborhood. "They have an understanding of 'No, this doesn't make sense. ![]() So, it is very important that we that community health workers are representative of the community, they can build relationships based on cultural similarities," Smith said. It's one thing for a person to go in the community and say 'You need X, Y and Z,' and for me not to be able to relate to the community. "If we learned anything from COVID it was gaps, it was health equity, it was disparity gaps and trust, a lot of trust. Smith added CHWs often work in the communities they themselves are a part of, which helps with the building of trust. They are in the places where the people are, so they don't sit in an office, they don't sit behind a computer, they go to where the people are to make access easier." "They are helping navigate and find the routes to a very crazy system that we have," added Jana Smith, Population Health Manager with the Chesterfield Health District, which has four CHWs. "We are critical because we understand those communities and we have a really close connection to those communities," said Jackson. Jackson, who was a CHW herself with the Richmond City Health District, said CHWs go out into the communities they serve to build relationships with people, especially those in underserved communities, and help connect with health resources. Her group has been going around the state handing out gift bags to CHWs and was at the Chesterfield Health District on Wednesday. They connect individuals, they provide supporting relationships," said Shanteny Jackson, Executive Director of the Virginia Community Health Workers Association. "Community health workers are amazing at what they do. This week marks National Public Health Week, a time to focus on promoting health in communities across the U.S., and some Virginia groups are using it to highlight the efforts of one sector of the healthcare workforce that helps with that - community health workers (CHWs).
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