MetroHealth plans to recruit at least 240 community health workers over the next three years with the help of a new federal grant.
The hospital system announced it received nearly $3 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to increase the number of community health workers across Northeast Ohio.
The grant is part of the federal agency's effort to build a nationwide pipeline of community health workers to increase access to care by providing patient navigation, peer counseling and education to underserved communities, according to a MetroHealth media release.
Whether they work at Federally Qualified Health Centers, schools, public health departments or health systems, MetroHealth points to a study that shows their work helps reduce the number of hospitalizations and improves clinical outcomes for people with chronic diseases.
"The key thing that makes the health worker unique is that they are a member of the community who is already trusted," said Katie Davis of MetroHealth's Center for Community and Corporate Health, which will oversee the grant. "They get trained in health, education and the different health areas to then be able to relate to community members and patients —then connect them to health services. So it's a lot more of a trusted individual to be a part of the professional team."
Community health workers have a variety of different titles, according to MetroHealth. Sometimes they're called patient navigators, peer counselors or educators and outreach workers.
They are also in demand. At any given time, 500 community health worker jobs are open in Ohio, the hospital said.
To become a community health worker, a person must complete at least 100 classroom hours and 130 clinical experience hours to become certified by the Ohio Board of Nursing, MetroHealth said.
The grant will provide these trainees with stipends to help with application costs and transportation expenses that could be barriers to completing the training and certification, according to the hospital system.
