Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington’s new community health worker course will prepare students for front-facing outreach and advocacy.
Program Chair and Associate Professor of Human Services Chelsea Rood-Emmick said students can complete the 48 hours of training online or in-person next year. Students who complete the coursewill be certified by the Indiana Community Health Worker Association.
Rood-Emmick said community health workers have connections and trust with the community or special population they serve.
“It does really straddle the line between healthcare and Human Services,” Rood-Emmick said. “This person is somebody who is going to be working in a healthcare office — either in a doctor's office or some kind of clinic or public health clinic. Their focus is going to be working one-on-one with an individual on those social and resource needs.”
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Anyone can sign up for the course, including new and current Ivy Tech students, a press release said. Rood-Emmick said an online version of the class is set to launch in the spring, in the second eight weeks of the semester. The in-person version of the class will start next fall.
Indiana Community Health Worker Association saidthis type of employee “builds individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency through a range of activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support, and advocacy.”
The association listsabout 50 jobs that a community health worker can fill, including abuse counselors, youth workers and patient advocates.
The Indiana Department of Health announced in November a $2.5 million investment in community health workers. The funds went to Indiana University Health Foundation and IU Health Community Health, according to a release.
The release said community health workers help bridge healthcare gaps and “are especially important” for vulnerable patients.
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Rood-Emmick said she’s excited to see the push to get more community health workers around the state aligning with the creation of this class.
“I'm getting a lot of inquiries about the class already,” she said. “I wish we were launching it right now.”
While it’s not necessary for community health workers to have a credential, people who are certified and complete the Ivy Tech class can bill Medicaid — a skill agencies value, Rood-Emmick said.
People interested in the class don’t have to sign up for any other Ivy Tech classes, she said. But students might include it in their general education requirements or to help towards a Human Servicesor Mental Health Direct Support certificates.
Rood-Emmick said this course is a “good jumping off point” for people who want to work in healthcare or human services. The course covers a wide range of health care issues — diversity, case management, public health.
“It's a good place for anyone to start, even if you know, they don't end up in that field,” Rood-Emmick said.
Students do not have to take a separate ICHWA test for certification, she said. The course uses ICHWA standards, and the association approved every discussion board, exam and the textbook.
“If a student passes the course, they're awarded the credential," Rood-Emmick said. “We will report to ICHWA the students' information, and we will forward the fee to them — I think it's a $40 fee. And then the student is done.”
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @aubreymwright.
