Howard County General Hospital will offer community health worker training and certification beginning Aug. 30. Community health workers conduct outreach for medical personnel or health care organizations to implement programs in the community that promote, maintain and improve individual and community health. In addition, they encourage individuals to adopt healthy behaviors by increasing their health knowledge and self-sufficiency.
Offered three times a year, the community health worker training, accredited by the Maryland Department of Health, consists of over 100 hours of online and virtual real-time sessions as well as in-person modules completed within 14-15 weeks. This includes:
- Weekly modules with prerecorded learning which offers schedule flexibility
- Weekly discussion board posts online
- 40-hour in-person practicum at Howard County General Hospital supervised by hospital community health workers
- Learning activities via live video or in person with social and physical distancing
Howard County General Hospital’s Community Care Team leads the program. The training covers advocacy and community capacity building, communication and cultural competency, ethics and confidentiality issues, local resources and system navigation, care coordination, skills to promote health, outreach methods and strategies as well as public health concepts and health literacy.
Participants must be 18 years old or older and have earned a high school degree or GED. No prior health care training is required.
Registration closes Aug. 11. To learn more or register, visit http://bit.ly/chw-training, call 410-720-8788 or email [email protected]. A limited number of partial scholarships are available through a donation from the Biegel family.
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Scott E