What Is a Community Health Worker?
Are you passionate about health and wellness? Do you genuinely enjoy helping others? A career as a public health worker could empower you to make a difference by improving community health outcomes while connecting underserved populations to the healthcare and social services they deserve.
What is a community health worker (CHW), exactly, and what does a “typical” day in this job look like? Read on to learn what this important line of work entails and whether its career path may align with your own interests and professional goals.
What Is the Role of a Community Health Worker?
Community health workers (CHWs) serve as links between healthcare providers and the communities they support. Their role involves educating individuals and families about health behaviors, promoting preventive care, and helping people navigate complex healthcare systems. Because they often come from the communities they serve, CHWs are uniquely positioned to build trust, foster open communication, and deliver culturally relevant information.
Beyond health education, CHWs also advocate for their clients’ needs by connecting them with essential services such as food assistance, housing support, transportation, or social services. They play a critical role in disease management, maternal and child health, immunization outreach, and mental health support. Whether conducting home visits, facilitating support groups, or assisting with care coordination, community health workers help ensure individuals receive the resources and guidance needed to lead healthier lives.
Where Do They Work?
Community health workers can be found in a wide variety of work environments, although many are employed in hospitals, public health departments, or community-based organizations.
For example, a community health worker in a hospital or other medical facility may be called in to assist patients who need additional resources for navigating the complex healthcare system. This may include patients with chronic conditions who need guidance and resources to help them better manage their health as well as patients and their families who may need help advocating for their needs.
Government agencies, including public health departments, also employ community health workers directly. In these cases, CHWs may be responsible for overseeing and running public health programs (such as community health workshops and free health screenings). At times, these professionals may conduct visits with local schools, senior homes, and other areas of the community to educate the public on health and wellness matters.
Meanwhile, community-based programs (like those involved with nonprofits or churches) may also recruit community health workers to assist in their local outreach and wellness initiatives outside of “traditional” settings. They may even help run Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which aim to provide affordable or free healthcare services to local populations.
Day-to-Day Responsibilities
With a better grasp of the work of a community health worker, you may wonder more specifically about what the day-to-day looks like for a CHW. Keep in mind that no two days are precisely alike for a community health worker. Part of what draws many people to this work is the excitement of being involved in numerous different projects and activities.
Specific duties and responsibilities of a CHW can also vary depending on the setting in which they work. A professional that works in a hospital, for instance, will have different duties than one who works for a government agency. At the end of the day, however, all community health workers share the goal of advocating for local populations while helping people lead healthier lives.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) explains that “community health workers act as intermediaries between their clients and providers of healthcare and social services,” with common job responsibilities including:
- Coordination of care
- Community outreach (such as conducting home visits)
- Advocating for food security, healthcare, housing, and similar needs
- Providing health screenings, first aid, and other basic healthcare
- Helping community members secure access to healthcare and social services, including nutrition training and mental healthcare
It is also not uncommon for community health workers to collaborate with other professionals. Thanks to their close ties to community members, they can be especially effective in advocating for local populations while working alongside mental health counselors, social workers, and nurses.
Job Outlook
Due to the ongoing need for healthcare advocacy in underserved areas, the demand for community health workers is only expected to rise over time. Combine this with overall increases in rates of chronic disease, substance abuse disorders, and mental health struggles, and it’s evident why the demand for skilled CHWs persists across many areas of the U.S.
In fact, according to BLS data, the job outlook for CHWs is projected to grow 13% between 2023 and 2033 alone. With approximately 8,300 new jobs expected by 2033, that’s much faster than the national average for all occupations.
Becoming a Community Health Worker
If you’re serious about making a difference and working to reduce the effect of health disparities on local populations, then a career as a community health worker could be right for you. So, what exactly does it take to become a community health worker?
Having a bachelor’s or master’s degree in public health is an ideal way to differentiate yourself from other job candidates — especially for more advanced leadership and advocacy roles. In some states, community health workers may also need to be licensed and/or certified. (You can learn more about CHW certification requirements by state here.) Even if you plan to work in a state where certification is not required, getting certified could help you further set yourself apart and qualify for advancement opportunities in the field.
Important Skills
In addition to formal education and certification, community health workers should possess certain essential skills in order to succeed in this challenging yet rewarding line of work. Specifically, they must strive to develop strong:
- Communication and interpersonal skills – These are crucial when it comes to working with local populations and getting to know the unique health/social needs of the community. These same skills can be leveraged when collaborating with other healthcare professionals and advocating for the people CHWs serve.
- Cultural sensitivity/competence – Working in community health inherently means working with people from a vast range of cultural backgrounds. With this in mind, CHWs need to possess a strong sense of cultural sensitivity and cultural competence in order to reduce health disparities and enhance communication.
- Problem-solving skills – CHWs benefit from analytical thinking and creative problem-solving, especially when encountering resistance to public health initiatives or other challenges in their work.
- Instructional/leadership skills – It is not uncommon for community health workers to facilitate public health programs, workshops, and other classes; thus, being able to teach and lead larger groups of people is a critical skill in this role.
Advance Your Public Health Education With an MPH Program
If you already hold an undergraduate degree and are interested in becoming a community health worker, it may be time to elevate your education with a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Boston University (BU). In both our On-Campus MPH and the Online MPH program, you can build the foundational skills and expertise needed to make a difference in your community while solving real-world public health challenges. When pursued entirely online, this program allows you to work toward your degree at your own pace without putting other areas of your life on hold.
Get in touch today to learn more about this program and all it has to offer. Ready to take the next step? Get started with your online application for admission.