Vermont Community Health Worker Steering Committee's
January 2023 Newsletter
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IN THIS ISSUE
Announcements
CHW Spotlight
Resources & Training
CHW Job Opportunities
A Moment of Wellness
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Happy New Year from the
Vermont Community Health Worker Steering Committee!
We hope you are all off to a great start in the New Year!
We are still processing all the wonderful activity that took place at the Vermont Community Health Worker Conference in December. There are different elements that are beginning to take shape, our Committee and other partners will be following up in the coming weeks and months to engage you all in the next steps.
Again, we appreciate the time you all took to attend the conference and the comments you provided, which will be instrumental in creating a more recognized and supported Community Health Worker workforce in our state!
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We recognize that Community Health Workers are always helping and supporting their communities every day in every region of the state. Each month we highlight a Community Health Worker (or similar title), Community Health Worker program, or partner from across Vermont to highlight the great work being done in communities while showcasing the uniqueness and diversity of the workforce.
Through the Steering Committees CHW professional identity work, we have developed a series of program videos to highlight the value and diversity of CHW programs in Vermont.
This month we highlight the SASH (Support and Services at Home) program and the wonderful work they do serving older adults and individuals with disabilities in housing sites throughout the state of Vermont. Please take a moment to watch the video below.
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We invite you to shine a spotlight on a Community Health Worker in your community!
Join us in celebrating this workforce!
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CHW Lunch & Learn Webinar Series |
The webinar series will be held on the 3rd Thursday of each month from February-May, during the lunch hour. Enrollment for each session is required and will be announced closer to each session.
Topics include:
- Epilepsy
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease & Cholesterol
- Oral Health Care
*Webinars are free and available to all Community Health Workers (or similar title and/or roles).
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Vermont Indigenous Historical and Intergenerational Trauma Training |
This training is for all community health and mental health related providers and first responders
The training will be provided on two separate dates:
February 15, 2023 1:00 – 4:00 pm
February 22, 2023 1:00 – 4:00 pm
For more information please see the attached Flyer
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Are you curious about the new Vermont Health Equity and Community Design Technical Assistance Pilot?
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The Creating a Healthier Vermont: Advancing Health Equity through Placemaking, Funding, and Support webinar series is an opportunity to learn more and get your questions answered about the newest Vermont Health Equity and Community Design Technical Assistance opportunity from the Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development.
These events are open to community leaders, local and statewide organizations, neighborhood groups, and interested residents across the state of Vermont.
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Substance-Induced Psychosis Webinar |
Thursday February 9th, 2023
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
In an era of constantly changing drug trends, episodes of substance-induced psychosis are commonly seen in emergency department and crisis settings. Attempting to assist people is an increasingly complex task when considering impacts of the opioid crisis, synthetic drugs, poly-drug use, co-occurring mental health disorders and other health issues. For additional information please see the attached flyer.
Who Should Attend?
Emergency department personnel, emergency medical technicians, behavioral health clinicians, and other healthcare or social service staff interested in the topic.
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FREE Chronic Disease Trainings
The Chronic Disease Online Trainings are available to all VT CHWs until June 30, 2023. Take advantage of these FREE, self-paced trainings that provide Community Health Workers with information, skill building, and resources to help people prevent and manage chronic conditions.
MCD Global Health Self-Paced Trainings are FREE to all Vermont users.
Check out the flyer for instructions on how to register for FREE now.
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Are you a community health worker looking to learn more about research?
This opportunity involves:
Logging onto the website and completing the course (~ 2 hours)
Completing a brief online 5–10-minute survey
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Open Call: NACHW Ambassadors 2023 |
The Ambassador Committee of the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) is seeking 20 interested CHWs to become NACHW Ambassadors. The NACHW Ambassador Committee serves to recruit Ambassadors who will act as liaisons between NACHW and local, state, and regional CHW networks and associations. Ambassadors will be Community Health Workers who are members of NACHW. Note: This is a volunteer position. Ambassadors will be asked to dedicate 4-5 hours per month to the role.
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The Community Health Worker Workforce:
Getting to Sustainability
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Please join the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) in a four-part webinar series aimed at demonstrating how regions, states, tribal nations, and territories are advancing the CHW workforce by moving toward sustainability. This series will cover a range of topics from a national overview and history of CHWs to tools and resources that are being developed by and with Community Health Workers and allies from across the country. |
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Understanding U.S. Domestic Medical Screening for Refugees and Other Newcomers |
Tuesday, February 14, 2023 2:00–3:30
This training is designed for service providers who help newcomers get connected to the domestic medical screening and help them navigate the U.S. healthcare system. It will be relevant for social workers, case managers, resettlement agency staff, community partners, and others who help support the domestic medical screening and related support processes for newcomers.
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Podcast Series to Increase Healthcare Access in Indian Country |
The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) launched a six-episode podcast series to inform American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal citizens and Tribal leaders on healthcare options that offer more care and better care to Indian Country. They dive deep into topics and interview leaders from Indian Country and experts in Native health.
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SASH Coordinator- Put your social work, organizational, and management skills to work helping Vermonters make healthy decisions and remain living at home as they age. This is a position with lots of variety and lots of action. You’ll form trusting relationships with residents, help develop individual and group health plans, coordinate regular activities and events, record and maintain confidential health information, and interact regularly with aging services and health-care providers, family members, SASH teammates and others.
Opportunities are available at:
Community Health Worker (North Star Health FQHC: Springfield): The Community Health Worker (CHW) will be a part of the Community Health Team (CHT) and play a critical role in improving equitable access to care through our new mobile services program.
AmeriCorps Community Health Worker: (UVM Medical Center): Community Health Workers will lead the Epilepsy Resource Room: a space where patients can seek information on living with epilepsy and be connected through referrals for age-appropriate and hospital-based programs and resources.
Family Peer Support Specialist (Care Network: Rutland Mental Health): The Family Peer Support Specialist functions as a role model and support system to pregnant parents or parents of young children. While utilizing their own life experiences, the Family Peer Support Specialist will provide parents with services including peer support and outreach. When appropriate and helpful to the parent, the Family Peer Support Specialist will share relevant personal experiences that foster hope, and resiliency and decrease stigmatization of mental illness.
Peer Support Specialist (Clara Martin Center: Randolph): Peer Support Specialists provide mentoring, encouragement and advocacy to adults or transition aged youth who are in recovery from a mental health or addiction issue. They provide support to clients to take an active role in the development and implementation of their own treatment goals. Personal life experience with recovery from mental health or an addiction(s) is required.
Housing First Forensic Peer Specialist (Pathways Vermont): Position brings their unique lived experience of having been incarcerated, under the supervision of the Dept. of Corrections and/or criminal justice involvement to the team, supporting individuals who are exiting incarceration and under supervision of the Department of Corrections to transition to the community and thrive.
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It’s that time of year again: the post-holiday period when we’re inundated with information about how to stick with our New Year’s resolutions and follow “healthy” routines.
While this guidance is usually well-intentioned, it’s not always helpful — and sometimes it’s downright harmful. You don’t have to look far to find health advice that’s unrealistic or perpetuates stigma and stereotypes (not to mention all the information that’s just plain untrue!). As health communicators, it’s up to us to counteract this January jumble of unhelpful health tips by providing our audiences with clear, empathetic, and actionable information — just like we do all year long!
Communicate Health has tips for you to be able to message health tips to the people you serve, check it out: https://communicatehealth.com/
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--> Take time to visit these sites and join the listservs that support you and your work.
CDC , CHW Toolkit: online courses, lessons learned, and best practices to help state health departments train and further build capacity for CHWs in their communities. Training and education materials for CHWs to use within their communities., etc.
COVID-19 Digital Classroom: a global initiative to provide high-quality, medically-reviewed, multimedia content and training courses for community-based health workers and local communities globally.
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#NoJudgement: youth & the organizations that serve them can access tools to have judgment-free conversations with others. Created for and by immigrant and refugee youth.
Prevent Child Abuse Vermont: q uality prevention programming; facilitators trained to deliver effective prevention topics for English and Spanish-speaking audiences!
Public Health Institute: improve health, equity and wellness by discovering new research, strengthening key partnerships and programs, and advancing sound public health policies.
VT Emergency Rental Assistance Program (VERAP): The Federal allocation given to Vermont is running out, and as a result the State has made a plan to ramp down the program to serve the most vulnerable Vermonters for as long as possible.
2-1-1: VT resource database of programs and services provided by community, social, health, and government organizations.
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Vermont Community Health Workers |
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Thank you for your continued work and support,
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The Vermont Community Health Worker Steering Committee includes partners and community health workers from the Department of Health, Blueprint for Health, SASH (Support and Services at Home), Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, UVM Extension and Health Network, Community College of Vermont (CCV), Southern Vermont Area Health Education Center (SVTAHEC) and others
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