Community Health Worker Certification Program helps increase access to health care
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing is offering a chance for members of Lubbock’s diverse community to help their neighbors by becoming a certified community health worker or promotora de salud.
Community health worker certification classes begin at 5:30 p.m. April 8 at the Larry Combest Community Health & Wellness Center, 301 40th St. in Lubbock. Classes will be held from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. every Tuesday for 40 weeks. Cost of the program is $750 and payment plans are available.
Texas is the only state to offer community health worker certification. TTUHSC School of Nursing is the only nursing school in the state that offers a community health worker certification class.
Community health worker certification program prepares promotoras for different types of job opportunities such as working for clinics as case managers, liaisons and community outreach educators, said Debra Flores, who holds a Master of Arts in Management and is a certified community health worker instructor with the TTUHSC School of Nursing.
Historically, the agencies that utilize the services of community health workers are health care entities or agencies that receive grant money to provide outreach education such as community health centers.
At TTUHSC, community health workers serve as research assistants and collect data for research projects such as one to combat obesity, Flores said. Promotoras go into homes and develop nutrition curriculums customized for individual families.
Promotoras then track the family’s progress to see if they have become more active or more conscious of their eating habits.
The rate of pay for certified community health workers ranges from $8 to $9 an hour depending on the agency, Flores said.
Although the promotora program was established only two years ago in Lubbock, Flores said community health workers have served in South Texas and El Paso for more than 15 years and have had success spreading the word about breast cancer and helping people in medically underserved communities better manage diabetes.
“We see that there can be a difference,” Flores said, adding that between 20 and 30 promotoras work in the Lubbock community.
“I feel like if more people knew about the program, they’d see the potential impact promotoras can make in our community,” Flores said. “Community health workers are an asset to any health care agency.”
Community health workers are important because they are familiar with the people they serve. They usually live in the same area and share similar life experiences and have relationships with the people to whom they provide care, Flores said.
Eventually, Flores said she would like promotoras in Lubbock to act as liaisons between physicians and patients in underserved communities to improve access to health care.
“I think that would have an impact on missed visits and no-shows,” Flores said.
Certified community health workers at TTUHSC can increase their knowledge in skills including interpersonal, communication, teaching and advocacy, Flores said. With these tools, community health workers are better able to provide health care advice and information, informal counseling, and minor medical treatment to make health care more accessible to medically underserved populations in urban and rural areas throughout the United States.
Anyone age 18 and older with a heart for helping others is eligible to become a certified community health worker.
“Every community has natural leaders,” Flores said. “If you are a natural helper, this would be the type of job that would be right for you.”
To register for the class, contact Debra Flores, M.A.M. Certified CHW Instructor, at (806) 743-1720, debra.flores@ttuhsc.edu or at TTUHSC School of Nursing, 3601 Fourth St., STOP 6264, Lubbock, TX 79434.
Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, (806) 743-2143.
Claudia Bustos is providing nutrition education in the effort to prevent obesity at United Supermarket from a program called Little Bites Big Steps.