Find out why your pharmacy needs a Community Health Worker on staff.
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Learn what a Community Health Worker is and how they support pharmacies and patients
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Thinking about adding a CHW to your Pharmacy Support Staff? Check out this podcast episode to find out why you need to add a CHW to your pharmacy.
Community Health Workers are an important resource for communities, connecting individuals and families to services and information they need.
- Community Health Workers (CHWs) are frontline public health workers who are trusted members of the community served. This trusting relationship enables CHWs to serve as a liaison between health & social services to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.
- CHWs also build individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency through various activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support, and advocacy.
- Community Health Workers are increasingly recognized for their powerful potential role in improving the health care system. Recent studies have demonstrated that CHWs can help to reduce costs and improve care – key goals of most states’ health care priorities.
ABOUT THE CERTIFICATE COURSE:
Throughout the 16-week certificate course, you'll participate in topic discussions, engage in shadowing experiences, complete patient case reviews, and build a community resource binder that will serve as a toolkit for your work as a Community Health Worker. As part of this course, you'll complete 60 hours of service or experiential learning related to your studies.
- Pharmacy Technicians who complete this course will learn to:
- Effectively communicate with patients
- Identify and connect with local community resources
- Provide patient education
- Document patient encounters
- Oversee referral processes, including follow-up and monitoring
For Missouri Pharmacy Technicians: Successful completion of this course will result in a certificate recognized by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
For Virginia Pharmacy Technicians: This course is VCB Approved Education for Community Health Workers
"Being a CHW, I have learned more about disparities. As a technician, we can see medication savings for them but we may be unable to take the extra step to identify alternative cost savings and resolve gaps in care (by referring for classes such as blood pressure or diabetes). As a technician/CHW, I can fill medications and also help impact patients’ health long term. I am not a CHW 1 day and a technician the next day, I am always a CHW/Tech. When I call a doctor’s office, saying “I am a CHW for this patient” they are able to understand and address the given need that may not directly involve medications."
"As a CHW, I have learned to teach patients about high blood pressure. I learned how to take blood pressure and what the numbers mean. I have shown patients how to take their blood pressure, record it, and educate patients on the importance of taking their medications. Additionally, I have received training to teach a class, “Walk with Ease”. This class is designed for patients with pain or arthritis to help cope with their pain by walking. It provides you with goals to aim for and teaches you how to exercise and stretch properly, along with the dos and don’ts of exercising. I am preparing for my first class. I am excited and ready to get started!”
""I would recommend the Certificate Training Course because there is a lot of material that is covered as far as recognizing what your scope is. There is a lot of helpful information with subjects that may come up that are touchy, that as a technician you may not hear about much or know how to address. I enjoy knowing that customers are aware that you try to do everything you can instead of just doing what is required and sending them on their way. I appreciate the many “thank yous” we get from our customers."