Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Community Health Worker

Welcome. This blog is intended to hear from and talk with CHWs who are working in their community. We welcome ideas, reflections and suggestions for the role. Employment opportunities are also needed.

2 comments:

  1. Good afternoon. I am so happy to learn about this CHW blog! My name is Betsy Rodriguez and I am the Deputy Director of the National Diabetes Education Program. I work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the last 10 years I have been working with CHWs. I was part of an internal group at DDT that developed a position statement to support the role of the CHWs. You all can access the position statement at http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/projects/comm.htm - Community Health Workers/Promotores de Salud: Critical Connections in Communities.
    I also developed a toolkit on primary prevention of type 2 diabetes which I will like to introduce to all of you. The Spanish version will be available this year.
    The National Diabetes Education Program’s (NDEP’s) The Road to Health Toolkit was developed to assist community health workers, also known in Spanish-speaking communities as “promotores,” in providing outreach education to African American/African Ancestry and Hispanic/Latino communities—two groups at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. The Road to Health Toolkit features reliable, culturally appropriate and easy-to-use materials that focus on making healthy food choices and increased physical activity. It features an instructional flipchart in English and in Spanish that uses a storytelling approach. Also available to order is The Road to Health Training Guide and Video for those who offers train-the trainer workshops. The RTH Toolkit was designed as a “train-the-trainer” instrument for community health workers and promotoras de salud who work with African American and Hispanic/Latino populations. However, the components can easily be modified for use by diabetes educators, health educators, nurses, and dieticians among others.

    NDEP recommends ordering the basic toolkit components, which include a flipchart, a user’s guide, an activities guide, a resource guide, a photo journal, and The Road to Health supplemental CD-ROM You can download the basic toolkit and additional components at www.ndep.nih.gov or order. You can also download the CDs/DVDs Movimiento Por Su Vida and Step by Step: Moving towards prevention of Type 2 Diabetes as well as the Fat and Calorie Counter and the Food and Activity Tracker in English or Spanish. You may also order by calling toll-free 1-888-693-NDEP.

    To learn more about this resource please contact Betsy Rodriguez at: bjr6@cdc.gov or access this link: http://www.ndep.nih.gov/publications/PublicationDetail.aspx?PubId=152

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  2. Thanks Betsy for your comments. Glad you found the blogspot. Encourage others to use it as well. Lots of good ideas and resources out there that this emerging workforce needs to have available to them.
    This site is also on Twitter. The two are suppose to be linked.

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