What is a Community Health Worker with the Lennox Area Ambulance
According to the Community Health Worker Collaborative of South Dakota, a community health worker (CHW) is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has a unique understanding of the community served. This relationship allows the CHW to serve as a liaison between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery. A CHW also builds individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency through a range of activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support, and advocacy.
This past fall three members of the Lennox Area Ambulance took classes through Lake Area Technical College to become certified Community Health Workers through a $50,000 grant from the South Dakota Department of Health. We are now in the process of creating a Community Health Worker program in Lennox. This is a complicated process due to the nature of Medicaid rules and regulations, but once the program is developed, we will be able to serve in these roles for the people of Lennox. We will be working with the providers in the Sanford Clinic in Lennox to develop a referral process when they have patients they believe could benefit as a client of a Community Health Worker. We will also be able to work with referrals from other physicians as well.
Being a Community Health Worker involves being a trusted member of the community who has a vast knowledge of what services are available to be accessed by the public. Community Health Workers work with at risk populations attempting to bridge the gap between healthcare and existing social programs to improve the quality of life and better manage health conditions. Currently this is a reimbursable service through Medicaid, and we are hoping for Medicare and traditional insurances to cover this soon. As a community health worker, we work directly in a person’s home providing resources to clients who are facing challenge medical and/or social situations. This could include helping them apply for food assistance, gain transportation to medical appointments, helping them with adoption education and resources in the case of an unplanned pregnancy, and so many more. Not only this, but a Community Health Worker role includes education. If a client is a newly diagnosed diabetic or heart attack survivor who may need some help navigating the new challenges of their diagnosis including nutritional advice, cooking lessons, and education on how take their medications appropriately.
Keep your eyes out for more information as we continue to move through the process of forming this program for our community. We are excited to see what it can do to help those in need. As with anything with the Lennox Area Ambulance, our complete end goal is to have a lasting positive effect on those we encounter through our services.