{"id":124151,"date":"2020-08-04T14:08:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T00:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=124151"},"modified":"2020-08-04T14:08:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T00:08:13","slug":"uh-trains-chws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/08\/04\/uh-trains-chws\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> trains community health workers to help manage COVID-19<\/abbr> outbreaks"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Community Health Workers conduct outreach (Photo courtesy: Hilary Hacker),<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Department of Health (DOH<\/abbr>) are ramping up efforts to enhance health outreach in high-risk communities affected by COVID-19<\/abbr> with plans to train 100 individuals to become community health workers<\/a> (CHW<\/abbr>) in the next year. The UH<\/abbr> online training program is open to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> residents with fall classes scheduled to begin on August 24, 2020. <\/p>\n

The 16-credit certificate program is offered online and statewide through Kapiʻolani<\/span> Community College<\/a> in partnership with the other UH<\/abbr> community colleges, and is the third arm of the UH-DOH<\/abbr> Contact Tracing Training Program.<\/a> <\/p>\n

The program will prepare students to function as outreach community health workers who will be responsible for connecting people to health resources and services to improve the quality of their health and lives. The work of CHW<\/abbr>s may entail working closely with contact tracers to help manage COVID-19<\/abbr> disease outbreaks in communities throughout the state. While training will be provided through UH<\/abbr>, employment is not guaranteed upon completion of the program.<\/p>\n