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Community Health Workers Create Connections that Support Health

A Community Health Story
January 19, 2024

Finding a nutritious meal and laundry detergent or locating affordable housing may not seem like typical healthcare system responsibilities. But these are some of the necessities that help us be healthy, and community health workers (CHW) make the connections that make the basics possible.  

“A lot of people don't know what a community health worker is,” said Anna Leather, a community health worker in San Antonio. “I explain it by saying I am the link between you and the resources available in your community.”

If a family is hungry, she puts them in touch with food pantries or places serving free meals. If someone is experiencing financial insecurity, she knows how to help them sign up for aid with utilities or rent. Community health workers can provide shampoo and laundry detergent, connect children with school clothes and backpacks, and help find job training for someone transitioning from incarceration to the community. If someone needs medical care, a community health worker knows how to help them make use of their health plan -- scheduling appointments, ensuring follow-ups, translating instructions, and making sure people understand their care options. The organizations that employ community health workers – health plans, state agencies, and more – have an interest in keeping people healthy. This requires more than just making sure they visit the doctor.

They go where people are – jobsites, shelters, hotels, apartment complexes, farms – to help people learn about available healthcare and social supports. They also serve as advocates for their communities, raising awareness to local leaders about social drivers of health that can lead to poor health outcomes.

CHWs improve access to care, practice cultural humility, and are familiar faces in the community

The work requires a variety of skills, from compassionate ally to dealmaker to confidant.

A community health worker is a master networker, extensively trained in health-related social needs and health plan benefits, so they know how to connect with the right people, organizations, and services. They know where to get the things that people need and request.

“I’m an advocate; the need doesn’t matter,” said Carolina Reyes, a community health worker and a colleague of Leather’s in San Antonio.

Those needs often crop up in healthcare, and a community health worker can help people get the most out of their health plan. Research has shown that their work increases access to care.

They might translate for someone who doesn’t speak the same language as the doctor. Or they might visit a member who was recently discharged from the hospital. The community health worker will make sure people are up to date on their medications, have the special equipment they might need, and know how to access additional benefits.

“I’m doing whatever I can to serve the family to make this journey easier,” Reyes said.

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Elevance Health-affiliated health plans provide 37 brick-and-mortar community service centers that enable access to critical healthcare and social supports. In 11 states and the District of Columbia, these inviting neighborhood spaces are staffed by trained associates who demonstrate cultural humility in assisting visitors. They provide information on housing, food, employment, legal aid, and other resources. Many locations supply free food and diapers. CHWs working for Elevance Health-affiliated plans also operate from inside the organization by reaching out by phone to members across the country to help connect them to care and services in their communities.

Leather agreed, saying, “Once they give a member or a patient a diagnosis, we have to make sure they understand and can do the things the doctor is recommending.”

Leather said some of her role is translating from medical-speak: “I’ll ask if they got their feet checked by the foot doctor, but I won’t say podiatrist,” she said.

It’s also a matter of understanding and respecting someone’s culture, Leather said. “Our older members may not do anything without a family member,” she said. “If a doctor suggests a knee replacement, they’ll consult with family, people they trust. ‘The doctor is telling me to do this. Should I do this? Can you help me make this decision?’”

Leather said she will talk with the member about what assistance might be needed in order to recover from the knee replacement, such as help with food or transportation. She said a member may even ask about the best time of year or the best weather to get the surgery.

“It’s not a strange question,” she said. “They may not have air conditioning.”

There's a lot of trust involved in this type of work, and being a member of the community plays a significant part in that.

“I think trust comes naturally when we’re talking,” Reyes said. “They might mention behavioral health concerns, and I can say, ‘I’ve struggled with that too.’ So I understand what they’re saying. I can connect with them, I guess, because I'm from the community and I've been through so much of what they're going through.”

Leather said, “We have to be flexible and talk to our members about all aspects of their lives. The connection is there, you just have to find it. ‘Oh, you have kids? I have kids. You used to live in the country? I have chickens.’ And so we start talking. You just have to be on your toes, to see and observe. And then the trust comes” when the CHW follows up.

With deep connections inside the communities where they live and work, CHWs are a bridge to the resources people need, both inside and outside the traditional health system.

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