Linn County Public Health (LCPH) exists to prevent disease and injuries, promote healthy living, protect the environment, and ensure public health preparedness. In 2015, Linn County completed a community health assessment (CHA), which identified safe and affordable housing as a priority need. Like many states, Iowa faces challenges related to housing quality, including an aging housing stock and high housing cost burden. LCPH used the $5,000 grant to organize and host two community trainings for community health workers. Partners from the Children’s Mercy Hospital Environmental Health Program (Kansas City, Missouri), facilitated the trainings, utilizing Healthy Housing Solutions’ Healthy Homes Assessment for Community Health Workers. The trainings incorporated components that support home-based asthma services and lead poisoning prevention/follow-up services. The target audience includes healthy homes service providers such as community health workers, nurses, social service agencies, the social determinant of health subcommittee members, and housing agencies. The goal of the trainings was to prepare attendees to better educate their clients and communities about lead poisoning and asthma triggers.
Childhood Asthma Leadership Coalition (CALC), Washington, District of Columbia
The George Washington University (GWU) leads the Childhood Asthma Leadership Coalition (CALC). GWU and First Focus, a nonprofit children’s advocacy organization, convened CALC in 2012 to unite cross-sector partners to improve policies that impact children with asthma. CALC aims to improve access to care and to accelerate prevention and health system redesign in order to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of childhood asthma through targeted state and federal policy. CALC wrote a short white paper on the role of community health workers (CHWs) in the delivery of home-based asthma services. It summarized the most robust available evidence on CHWs and their effectiveness in delivering home-based asthma services, and provided a tool for advocates working to advance the role of CHWs. CALC’s goal was to create an educational resource that can be a catalyst for developing a well-trained, knowledgeable, credible, and reliable healthy homes workforce.
Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance (MCHWA), Bloomington, Minnesota
The Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance (MCHWA) is a statewide nonprofit committed to equitable and optimal health outcomes for all communities. Its mission is to build systems and community capacity for better health through the integration of culturally responsive CHW strategies in healthcare, public health, behavioral health, oral health, and social services systems. Although Minnesota has standardized competency-based curriculum and Medicaid payment for diagnostic-related education and self-management services provided by CHW certificate holders, very few healthy housing providers have integrated CHWs into their teams. MCHWA offered an informational workshop and roundtable to familiarize healthy housing providers with CHWs’ roles and benefits, spotlight successful models, and explore opportunities and challenges to CHW integration. It also offered one training event for CHWs. The goals for these activities was to increase knowledge about CHW roles and benefits, better understand barriers and opportunities for CHW integration, and set key action steps.