Bucking the norm, New York City-based Montefiore has opted to directly employ and embed community health workers within its clinical teams to connect patients with social services as part of broader efforts to address social determinants of health. Now, the system is taking this work one step further by ramping up community health worker training.
Montefiore's Community Health Worker Institute, launched in 2021, recently received a $2 million grant from the New York State Department of Health to enhance education and training for community health workers.
Most basic training programs for these roles entail about 81 hours of educational activities and 80 hours of on-the-job training. Through the new grant, community health workers employed by Montefiore will undergo 160 hours of education — spanning data management to social services workshops — and about 2,000 hours (or one year) of supervised practice, according to a Jan. 9 news release. The institute will also train an additional 16 workers with the new funding.
"Our CHWs are remarkable, and we owe it to them to have more standardized education and training that will not only add value to how we deliver healthcare but also ensure CHWs have the tools to be successful, feel pride in their work and to advance in their careers," Kevin Fiori, MD, director of the Community Health Worker Institute and social determinants of health, said in the news release. "We are grateful for this new funding which will help ensure we are enhancing experiences for our CHWs, but also will provide a roadmap for how to share and replicate CHW best practices elsewhere."
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