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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community health workers

PeaceHealth Is Vaccinating Rural America Through Peer-to-Peer Outreach
Describes how PeaceHealth is promoting COVID-19 vaccines among farmworkers in rural Washington. Discusses the role of community health workers and digital media in educating people about the importance of vaccination.
Date: 05/2021
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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From the Front Lines: COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts in Rural Communities Hit by the Opioid Epidemic
Examines the COVID-19 response, including testing, contact tracing, and vaccination efforts, of HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) grantees. Discusses challenges related to vaccination efforts to reach rural individuals with substance use disorder/opioid use disorder and other rural residents.
Date: 05/2021
Sponsoring organization: JBS International, Inc.
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Maine Health Access Foundation: Reaching Out to Organizations to Provide Directed Grants
An interview with Barbara Leonard and Ruta Kadonoff of the Maine Health Access Foundation. Discusses how the foundation provided unrestricted COVID-19 grants and open competitive grants and partnered with other philanthropies pooling together COVID-19 response funds. Describes the foundation's support for EMS, telehealth, tribal communities, behavioral health, and other concerns important to rural Maine.
Author(s): Allee Mead
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 01/2021
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Eat Healthy, Be Active Community Workshops Implemented with Rural Hispanic Women
Describes a pilot study investigating whether delivering Eat Healthy, Be Active (EHBA) workshops through promotoras is a practical and culturally relevant method for encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviors and reducing obesity among Hispanic women in rural areas of Washington state. Includes data and statistics, with information on changes in nutrition label literacy, food insecurity, health behaviors, and health status among participants.
Author(s): Janeth I. Sanchez, Katherine J. Briant, Samantha Wu-Georges, et al.
Citation: BMC Women's Health, 21(24)
Date: 01/2021
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Dialogue About the Workforce for Population Health Improvement: Proceedings of a Workshop
Presentations from a workshop facilitating a population health perspective among public health and healthcare leaders and professionals; framing the work of personnel such as community health workers, health navigators, and peer-to-peer chronic disease management educators within the context of population health; and leveraging the competencies of public- and private-sector workforces that are working to include a well-being orientation in their activities.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Roundtable on Population Health Improvement
Date: 2021
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Addressing Health Disparities in the Rural United States: Advocacy as Caregiving among Community Health Workers and Promotores de Salud
Presents a study comparing the roles played by community health workers (CHWs) and promotores de salud in serving rural communities in Indiana and Texas. Discusses CHWs role in addressing rural health disparities and describes that role in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author(s): Ryan I. Logan, Heide Castañeda
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9223
Date: 12/2020
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Strengthening the Entry-Level Health Care Workforce: Finding a Path
Examines gaps in the existing healthcare workforce, challenges facing entry-level healthcare workers (EHCW), current EHCW training programs and contexts where training programs are used effectively, and strategies and policy opportunities to strengthen the EHCW. Includes rural references throughout and case studies for programs in rural Alaska and Washington. Provides an interactive inventory of existing policies and programs that support EHCW training, recruitment, and retention.
Additional links: Entry-Level Health Care Workforce: Information and Programs Visualization Tool
Author(s): Shira H. Fischer, Ryan K. McBain, Laura J. Faherty, et al.
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, RAND Corporation
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Notes from the Field: Development of an Enhanced Community-Focused COVID-19 Surveillance Program — Hopi Tribe, June‒July 2020
Describes a collaboration between the Hopi Tribe Department of Health and Human Services, Hopi Health Care Center, and CDC to provide house-to-house COVID-19 surveillance and education in a rural, low-resource setting using community health representatives and volunteers.
Author(s): Royce Jenkins, Rachel M. Burke, Joyce Hamilton, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 69(44), 1660-1661
Date: 11/2020
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Innovative Health Care Provider Roles
Discusses healthcare provider types that might have the potential to benefit rural communities including community health workers, community paramedics, patient advocates, health coaches, and dental therapists.
Date: 07/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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Availability of Health Insurance Literacy Resources Fails to Meet Consumer Needs in Rural, Appalachian Communities: Implications for State Medicaid Waivers
Reports on the availability of health system and community‐based programs promoting health insurance literacy and supporting informed consumer healthcare decision making in rural Kentucky. Findings are based on focus groups and interviews conducted with healthcare providers, community health workers, patient navigators, and others primarily serving rural Appalachian counties in the state.
Author(s): Jean Edward, Robin Thompson, Andrea Jaramillo
Citation: Journal of Rural Health
Date: 06/2020
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