Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association ANCHORING EQUITY: How Community Health Workers Help Advance Health Justice and Equity
MHA’s Anchoring Equity blog series profiles the work of our members and partners as they work to advance health equity, diversity, and inclusion in their organizations and in their communities.
How Community Health Workers Help Advance Health Justice and Equity
Health inequities are avoidable and unfairly burden marginalized communities across racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic status. That is why the role of community health workers (CHWs) is essential to advancing health justice across the healthcare system. CHWs work collaboratively with communities and other providers to help realize a vision of a system that fully embraces each person, holistically addresses behavioral and physical health needs, addresses the social determinants of health, and ensures appropriate access to care for all.
Community health workers are helping reach our shared health equity goals by:
- Building trust between underserved communities and healthcare providers
- Helping people navigate the medical and behavioral health systems
- Coaching people to adopt healthy behaviors
- Linking people to social services and wraparound resources such as housing, food and other basic needs
- Preventing unnecessary hospitalizations through health promotion, prevention, and early intervention strategies and activities.
MACHW: A Key Leader
In 2000, the Massachusetts Association of Community Health Workers (MACHW)became the first professional organization for CHWs in the United States, and since then has worked at the state and national levels to advance the profession and practice of CHWs. MACHW represents 1,500 community health workers caring for patients across the state. The organization was created by and for CHWs to establish the workforce as a profession and to advocate for recognition of CHWs’ important role in improving health outcomes, enhancing care quality, and reducing costs.
With a diverse membership, eighty-eight percent of MACHW members are women of color and fifty-six percent speak a language other than English, meaning that they share with their patients similar personal experiences in confronting systemic barriers that limit healthcare access and reduce the wellbeing of communities. MACHW members also reside and work within the ten Priority Geographies as designated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and focus on closing the gaps in care for medically underserved communities.
MACHW also provides training and assistance to healthcare organizations and public health agencies to address emerging public health issues and promote core competencies, leadership, and certification of CHWs; educate employers about best practices; provide technical assistance in onboarding, supervising, funding, and evaluating CHW programs; and advocate for policies that advance the professional role and CHWs and supports their sustainability across the healthcare system. Connect with and learn more about MACHW here.
Learn More on October 29!
In collaboration with MACHW, the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association is hosting a webinar, Advancing Health Equity: The Role of Community Health Workers in Hospital Settings, on Tuesday, October 29 at 11 a.m.
This webinar will provide an overview of community health workers (CHWs), their scope of practice, and role in advocating for and empowering patients, as well as strengthening hospital and community linkages that advance health equity. It will begin with an overview presentation by Massachusetts Association of Community Health Workers followed by a moderated panel discussion with hospital-based CHWs who will share their experiences, challenges, and recommendations for opportunities to develop and sustain the CHW workforce.
Learn more and register for the free webinar here.