The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently awarded a $3 million grant to DePaul Community Health Centers (DCHC) to establish a community health worker (CHW) training program. DCHC will use the funds to assist the Louisiana Primary Care Association (LPCA) with employing CHWs for all 39 federally qualified health centers and look-alikes across Louisiana.
“Community health workers and navigators, for the past five years, have played a key role in helping our patients—many of whom are from underserved populations—with improving their overall health status by assisting them with addressing various social determinants of health,” said Dr. Michael Griffin, president and CEO of DCHC. “LPCA recognized the invaluable contributions of our program and is to be commended for its foresight to assist other association members with establishing their own programs designed to enhance the services they provide to patients.”
The LPCA represents 39 federally funded, private, nonprofit, and public community health centers across Louisiana that serve more than 465,000 patients annually. LPCA promotes community-based health services through advocacy, education, and collaboration with community partners. Their goal is to ensure that every Louisianan has access to affordable, quality primary care services.
“Community health workers are at the frontlines of bringing health care to those who may not seek it out themselves,” said LPCA’s Executive Director Gerrelda Davis. “Their work brings them into communities, meeting people where they are and closing gaps in care by providing connections to community health centers and accessible, local services. We are looking forward to this partnership in expanding that work across Louisiana.”
DCHC’s community health navigators/workers (CHNs/CHWs) assist individuals with overcoming various social determinants of health, which include several non-medical factors (i.e., food and housing insecurity, unemployment and a lack of finances) that may adversely impact a person’s access to health care. Services CHNs provide for clients include health screenings, scheduling preventive care services, and working with community partners to ensure people have access to the critical resources they need. These resources include assistance in finding affordable housing, applying for SNAP food stamp benefits, accessing substance abuse treatment, primary care, financial education and counseling, and job training. DCHC partners with various community entities such as Second Harvest Food Bank, Total Community Action, and DePaul USA to assist with servicing clients.
DCHC revived its community health worker program in 2019 thanks to a $1.5 million grant from UnitedHealthcare to enable a full-time team of 15 CHWs/CHNs to connect more than 11,000 underserved and uninsured people across New Orleans with vital community health and social services.
DCHC has garnered much success with its CHN program. For example, Healthy Blue and Anthem Medicaid partnered with DCHC to launch a SDOH incentive program on April 1, 2020 with two CHNs to serve the health plan’s members and connect them to care, thus improving their health outcomes. During the initial year (2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CHNs conducted more than 400 member assessments and made more than 500 referrals to the right places for help.
As a result, in 2021, Healthy Blue Louisiana and Anthem Medicaid awarded the inaugural Bona Fide Blue Social Determinant Champion Award to DCHC’s Community Health Navigators (CHNs). The award recognized the program as being a consistent leader in addressing SDOH.