2024 Unity Conference Agenda

CHWs are powered by their lived experience, knowledge of community resources, and ability to build trust with those they serve. Given the constant change happening in the healthcare industry, CHWs need to constantly adapt and learn from additional training. Gone are the days of learning in classrooms, however. By continuing to invest in creative, practice-based training, we can positively impact care outcomes and promote consistency, while allowing for new partnerships and funding. This session will introduce creative ways to empower, uplift, and upskill CHWs, as well as review the current trends on CHW certification. CHWs can continue to grow with the support of employers, industry leaders, and academic partners.

Type 2 diabetes prevention and diabetes care means something different to everyone, from the person at risk for type 2 diabetes who has seen the generational struggle of their family members to the person with diabetes who strives to live their healthiest life and prevent the complications that can keep them from doing what they love. Also, where someone lives and works changes the landscape of the available resources for preventive care. At these crossroads stand community health workers who know the paths to take and can share messages of hope, help with skill building, and bridge the gap to needed services. This session will highlight resources designed with input from community health workers, people with diabetes, and others to strengthen the role of community health workers as diabetes care navigators. From conversation starters and visuals to step-by-step facilitator tools, attendees will leave with actionable and adaptable ways to address diabetes in their communities.

A CHW and Allies from Envision Equity, a national CHW-led CHW training and technical assistance center, will facilitate this session.

Although CHWs have played vital roles in promoting health equity, the workforce still struggles with sustainability. Envision’s sustainability model emphasizes relationships as a core source of power, aiming to connect CHWs and programs to key capacity building resources.

To strengthen the capacity to address sustainability challenges, Envision developed resources to support relationship building and align the national narrative around CHW workforce sustainability with CHW leadership at the center.

This presentation focuses on two tools to support capacity building and CHW leadership development as strategies for sustaining the CHW workforce: myenvision community platform and the CHW Sustainability Summit Participant Guide and Reflection Journal.

Participants will practice using these resources to strengthen their capacity to achieve sustainability

This session will explore the dynamic partnership between large non-profits and CHWs, highlighting how these organizations leverage CHWs’ expertise and knowledge to enhance outreach and connection within underserved communities. By utilizing the cultural competence and local insights of CHWs, non-profits can more effectively raise awareness about critical health issues and provide tailored support services. Additionally, the session will discuss the reciprocal benefits for CHWs, focusing on the training and professional development opportunities that large organizations offer. These opportunities enable CHWs to expand their skills, advance their careers, and amplify their impact within their communities. Through interactive discussions, attendees will gain insights into successful strategies for fostering these collaborations and maximizing their mutual benefits. Join us to learn how bridging the gap between large non-profits and CHWs can drive more effective community health outcomes.

Over 30 states currently offer CHW reimbursement pathways through Medicaid, and Medicare codes are now available, yet utilization, especially with community-based organizations, is extremely low. Unfortunately, there are significant operational, contractual, and regulatory barriers that stifle mass adoption of these funding streams. There are, however, simple solutions that key stakeholders can begin to incorporate, transforming the industry towards more community-based care. This session will utilize personal experiences, anecdotes, and research from over 75 organizations and 50 CHWs to highlight funding mechanisms and present best practices for community-based providers to capitalizable on emerging funding mechanisms. This diverse panel includes industry leaders with experience from 10 states across the country. Join us as we set out to simplify this extremely complicated topic and help more organizations get the respect and compensation they deserve. CHWs should never work for free.

The presenters are all authors of the 3rd Edition of the “Foundations for Community Health Workers” book, publish in June 2024 by Wiley. Presenters will discussed CHW leadership in the development of the book and its used as a resource for training CHW/P/Rs. The team will discuss the Foundations training resources, methods, and experiences. The inclusion and leadership role of CHWs in all aspects of the development of the Foundations’ resources will be highlighted.

The Community Health Worker (CHW) workforce continues to play a crucial role in the healthcare system. Many times, CHW program act as a bridge between the communities they serve and healthcare providers, resources agencies and even the dissemination of research. It is a well-established fact that CHWs are instrumental in improving health outcomes, particularly in underserved and marginalized populations. Unfortunately, CHWs continue to face challenges and face barriers related to professional training, career advancement and recognition in the healthcare sector workforce. A registered apprenticeship program tailored to CHWs presents a viable solution by offering many advantages that enhance the efficacy and sustainability of this essential workforce.

This session is designed to help lift up CHW voices and experiences within an organization, especially a hospital or health system. Trinity Health created a CHW Affinity Group to allow CHWs across the organization and across various departments and care settings, to come together for peer-to-peer networking and learning. The CHW Affinity Group is led by CHWs and is focused on CHWs’ real experiences and interests. The Affinity Group allows CHWs to exchange knowledge, resources and help with problem solving. Participants will be able to recognize the importance of peer networking among CHWs, identify tactics to set up and facilitate affinity meetings, and how to effectively incorporate and use CHW input.

The most important and overlooked aspect of poverty is how it changes the brain. In this session, you will experience how poverty changes the brain by playing the game Gettin’ By. Developed by an epidemiologist who specializes in poverty, and after five years of testing, this training is shown to shift attitudes toward poverty. You will learn the science behind the game, and the hidden impact of poverty on the brain, body, and behavior. Using a research-based checklist, you will learn how to look at your own work with “awkward” eyes and how to think about what you don’t naturally. Once we know better, we can do better. With more knowledge about poverty’s impact, we can find ways to more effectively help people living in the crisis of poverty. You will leave this session seeing poverty in a new way and with new tools to make your work more effective.

In the 2016 survey of community health workers, the CDC found that the main obstacle for many of us is confidence in providing health education to the community especially in a group or presentation setting. During my training for certification I encountered many different resources to aid in this effort, yet many of my fellow CHWs I have spoken with are still not confident in providing these trainings. The intent of this presentation is to provide a reproducible structure for CHWs to practice and gain confidence in presenting health based educations and trainings for the public and how to cultivate this culture amongst CHWs. I will also share some basic information about the importance of business insurance as a certified CHW.

CHWs deliver a unique contribution to the resilience of their community and the wellbeing of its residents. The purpose of this session is to emphasize the ways in which personal stories, which are the accounts of significant events or experiences in one’s life, can elevate the importance of CHW work to ensure that their voices and contributions are heard. In the session, we will highlight the importance of context both in building the CHW movement and situating personal stories for specific audiences. Next, we will discuss the ways in which personal stories can help to share the importance of the work that CHWs do within their communities, with a special focus on the social determinants of health. We will discuss the priorities of potential audiences for CHW’s personal stories. The last half of the session will be devoted to breakout sessions to explore how to put storytelling into practice. Participants will receive a worksheet to guide their development of their own personal story.

Mindfulness, a practice centered on maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, has been shown to have significant benefits for mental and physical health. Integrating mindfulness into nutrition education provides a holistic approach that can enhance the efficacy of dietary interventions. This presentation explores the innovative role of Community Health Workers (CHW’s) in delivering mindfulness-based nutrition education within diverse communities.

Community Health Workers, with their unique position and deep understanding of the communities they serve, are ideal conduits for imparting nutrition knowledge coupled with mindfulness techniques. By training CHW’s in mindfulness and nutrition, they become equipped to educate community members on mindful eating practices, stress reduction, and the importance of nutrition for overall health.

Community health workers (CHWs) play a crucial role in bridging the gap between healthcare systems and the communities that they serve (NIH, 2014). CHWs are often trusted members of the community, which enables them to effectively communicate health information and advocate for the needs of their peers while simultaneously integrating their services into broader health strategies to achieve sustainable health improvement. Social Determinants of Health are factors in an individual’s environment that influence health. In healthcare, specific populations, including unhoused individuals, new Americans, and those who disproportionately over-utilize emergency departments (EDs), encounter distinct obstacles that lead to poor health outcomes and health inequities. In healthcare, certain populations face unique barriers resulting in poor health outcomes and health inequality. CHW involvement has been shown to reduce the more expensive interventions of emergency room visits and medical procedures.

The Inland Empire is home to roughly 4.6 million people. Of those 4.6 million, around 1.5 million have the Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) for their medical insurance needs. The Social and Community Services department within IEHP works diligently to serve the community through harnessing the strength and knowledge of Community Health Workers. Our CHWs work in both urban and rural areas throughout the Inland Empire. We have three Community Resources Centers (CWC’s) in urban areas to serve the community, regardless of their health plan. We also partner with Bienestar for Food Distributions throughout San Bernardino and Riverside County. Lastly, we have a rural health strategy to leverage community-based organizations to meet the medical and social needs of our rural members and non-members. This presentation takes a deeper look at how our CHWs are impacting the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH’s) and how community-based organizations are helping shape SDoH in rural areas.

Representatives from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will discuss existing traffic safety data, resources, and campaign materials to support CHWs in local communities. NACHW member and CHW, Joana Goncalves, will discuss her role promoting traffic safety for the city of New Bedford, MA.

IMPaCT believes that Community Health Workers (CHWs) are the next generation of the American health care workforce and has been supporting them in every way: through hiring, training, and ongoing professional development. There is power in the invaluable lived experience of CHWs and their ability to see and overcome systems of injustice. A critical component of career advancement involves mentorship and transferring knowledge from CHWs to those they work with. IMPaCT has created IMPaCT Equity, a CHW mentorship experience for healthcare executives to do just that. This experience allows CHWs to mentor and educate executives about the realities of injustice and partner with them to create structural change. CHWs are trained by IMPaCT to facilitate the CHW co-designed curriculum that involves small-group discussions, reading, shadowing and one-on-one meetings between participants. Sessions include sharing of personal stories and discussions about structures that shape those stories.

The AHA is addressing barriers to quality health care, health care inequities, and social determinants of health (SDoH) to improve health outcomes. By 2028, the AHA will drive breakthroughs and implement proven solutions in science, policy and care for healthier people and communities.

The NHCI’s Community-Clinical Linkages pilot indicated that CHWs can serve an important role in enhancing hypertension health literacy and improving confidence to support lifestyle/behavior modifications within under-resourced communities.

It is imperative that the AHA continues to build capacity, provide training and technical assistance, and facilitate resource connection across sectors. This approach can help manage increased demands through innovative workforce solutions and trusted Community Health Workers.

Integrating CHWs into CCL strategies from the brainstorming phase of an initiative to the evaluating phase can help to enhance community knowledge and demonstrate improved capacity.

The conference aims to explore innovative strategies for addressing child abuse prevention in Latino communities by leveraging the Community Health Worker (CHW) model and promoting cultural humility among healthcare professionals. Through interactive sessions and discussions, participants will gain insights into the unique cultural dynamics influencing child welfare practices and learn practical approaches to foster trust, collaboration, and resilience within Latino families.

The CHW workforce has demonstrated its ability to impact the social determinants of health & connect people with what they need to be well. What do grieving people need? How does grief impact health? Our workshop will ensure that CHWs understand the varying human experiences of grief & loss. Our workshop with explore why grief is so stigmatized & why grief matters. We will explain the 10 principles of grief-informed care & best practices for supporting people who are grieving. Participants will be invited to reflect on their own losses & grief experiences. Who do they carry with them? How do they honor those people? We will highlight the fact that grief is not cured, we do not get over our grief, instead, we seek to integrate our grief, adjusting to a new reality after loss, & making space for sadness & joy. We will highlight the role of CHWs in supporting grieving people, creating safe spaces to honor grief, & connecting people with supportive resources.

Southeast Kansas, the poorest region of the state, has an overall child poverty rate of 17.8% with many more families at risk for poverty. Telehealth ROCKS works on these issues by partnering with local organizations, state-wide agencies, state government, and school districts to address social determinants of health with School-Based Community Health Workers. Guided by a robust rural community network, the school-based behavioral health initiative provides trainings and supports clinical services. During this session, we will provide an overview of our model and highlight one school district’s approach to addressing social determinants of health. We will describe the role of a School-Based Community Health Worker and how they work at both an individual and systemic level to change their communities. From this presentation, learners will be energized around integrating Community Health Workers into a comprehensive community-change model rather than as a singular solution to unmet needs.

The Transitions Clinic Network (TCN) addresses the unique healthcare and social service needs of individuals returning from incarceration by hiring, supporting, and training CHWs with lived experience of incarceration. The TCN model improves health outcomes by integrating these CHWs into primary care teams to foster trust and ensure effective communication between patients, healthcare providers, and community partners. We will provide insights into how the model enhances healthcare and promotes community well-being. Our presenters will highlight how TCN CHW’s support vulnerable patients in a variety of settings, including clinics, jails, prisons, and the community to essential care. We will demonstrate through firsthand experience, the challenges and the critical role of CHWs in improving health and reentry outcomes. Future efforts will focus on expanding this innovative model and leveraging new policies in Medicaid that impact healthcare and re-entry processes.