Community Health Worker, 40 Hours, Days

Exemption Status:

Schedule Details:

Scheduled Hours:

Shift:

Hours:

Cost Center:

This position may have a signing bonus available a member of the Recruitment Team will confirm eligibility during the interview process.

At UMass Memorial Health, everyone is a caregiver - regardless of their title or responsibilities. Exceptional patient care, academic excellence and leading-edge research make UMass Memorial the premier health system of Central Massachusetts, and a place where we can help you build the career you deserve. We are more than 20,000 employees, working together as one health system in a relentless pursuit of healing for our patients, community and each other. And everyone, in their own unique way, plays an important part, every day.

I. Major Responsibilities:

1. Acts as a liaison between the patients/families, clinical practice and community agencies and referral services. Remains a partner and source of contact for a family system until it connects with the appropriate services or until the family declines follow-up.
2. Under general supervision, provides education, resources and/or referrals to patients and families.
3. Advocates for patients and families in the clinic and community. Works in partnership with other service providers in the central Massachusetts community. Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with others including but not limited to staff, administrators, partnering agencies, elected officials, government agencies, businesses, customers, and the public.
4. Meets regularly with the care team to review cases, identify next steps and priorities, and plan feedback to providers and community partners.
5. Provides referrals and connects patients/families to community resources to help them overcome social problems and barriers.

II. Position Qualifications:

License/Certification/Education:

Required:
1. High school diploma or equivalent.
2. Reliable transportation with a valid MA Driver's license.
Preferred:
1. CHW certification or coursework.

Experience/Skills:

Required:
1. Experience working with diverse populations.
2. Familiarity with local community.
3. Excellent oral and written communication skills.
4. Ability to work independently, and to function as part of a larger team.
5. Understanding of how language, culture and socioeconomic circumstances affect health.
6. Desire to work with diverse, multi-cultural and multi-lingual populations.
7. Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (i.e. MS Word, Excel, Access, Outlook) and web browsers.
8. Proficiency with data entry and data tracking.
9. Familiarity or experience with health promotion, health education, and/or healthcare terminology

Preferred:
1. Fluency in one of the languages most spoken by UMMH patients (Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Albanian, Arabic, and Vietnamese)
2. One year of experience in a clinical office or community outreach setting.

Unless certification, licensure or registration is required, an equivalent combination of education and experience which provides proficiency in the areas of responsibility listed in this description may be substituted for the above requirements.

ADDENDUM FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER, COMMUNITY BENEFITS

Position Summary:
Conducts culturally-sensitive home assessments for identified at-risk patients and their families to improve overall health outcomes in the community. This includes but is not limited to assessments of pediatric asthma patients and patients at risk of falling, assessments of altered nutrition and unsafe newborn care practices, and increasing the resiliency of families with children who are affected by substance use and opioid addiction. Works closely with the clinical team and provides reinforcement of education and instructions, referral to community resources, and ongoing communication.

Additional Major Responsibilities:

1. Conducts home visits/assessments to identify home triggers and risks and develops a plan to reduce them.
2. Adheres to home visiting safety precautions and protocols.

Difference in Qualifications:
Add to "Required"
1. Bilingual (Spanish/English).
2. Ability to work evenings and weekends as needed.

ADDENDUM FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER, COMMUNITY BENEFITS - RESILIENCY CARE

Position Summary:

Increase childhood resiliency skills in families with children under the age of ten by offering intervention, resources, and referrals to community support providers.

Workers will collaborate with families to strengthen their existing abilities and will help families to self-identify needs and natural supports in their sphere of influence that will maximize healing and promote resiliency.
Worcester ACTs uses a co-responder, trauma-informed approach to care for families with children that have witnessed second-hand trauma within a 72-hour time frame. Families are assessed and triaged by community agencies and referred to Worcester ACTs for immediate follow-up by a caring team member-the CHW-RCN-for crisis intervention and transitions to sustainable on-going supports. The CHW-RCN will provide trauma informed care until the child has connected with community resources for support, and clinical services as identified and agreed upon by families.

Additional Major Responsibilities:
1. Conducts home visits/assessments to identify home triggers and risks and develops a plan to reduce them.
2. Adheres to home visiting safety precautions and protocols.

Difference in Qualifications:
Add to "Required"
1. Bilingual (Spanish/English).
2. Experience working with families impacted by substance abuse/addiction.
3. Ability to work evenings and weekends as needed.

ADDENDUM FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER, MassHealth ACO, Office of Clinical Integration

Position Summary:

Responsible for addressing identified social determinant of health needs (SDoH) by connecting patients to available social care resources; facilitates patient access to external resources, tracks progress of referrals made, problem-solves with patients to both accelerate and enhance access to concrete supports, documents in medical record so care team aware of progress, and uses established platforms such as CommunityHELP.

Additional Major Responsibilities:
1. Documents actions taken in relevant software programs and platforms to ensure adherence to the workflow and transfer of information to relevant teams (e.g. EPIC, Hyphen, CommunityHELP, Teams, etc.)
2. Meet with families that have identified needs at visits to understand their goals and support achievement of those goals over time.
3. Directly connect families to resources, acting as a bridge between community organizations, the clinic, and families, Acknowledging that families often have multifaceted needsand might require a comprehensive strategy involving multiple community organizations
4. Assesses patients for eligibility in state and federal assistance programs and assists with navigating application process.
5. Maintains awareness and communication with other programs supporting MassHealth ACO patients (e.g. Flexible Services and Complex Care Management)
6. Participate as a key part of the care team to facilitate a more comprehensive approach to healthcare delivery
7. Manage multiple, overlapping cases within the same time period. This might include using a system outside of the medical record for managing work.

Difference in Qualifications:
Add to Preferred Skills
1. Understanding and experience working with computer systems for documentation and record keeping

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

We're striving to make respect a part of everything we do at UMass Memorial Health - for our patients, our community and each other. Our six Standards of Respect are: Acknowledge, Listen, Communicate, Be Responsive, Be a Team Player and Be Kind. If you share these Standards of Respect, we hope you will join our team and help us make respect our standard for everyone, every day.

As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, UMass Memorial Health recognizes the power of a diverse community and encourages applications from individuals with varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity and expression, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.

If you are unable to submit an application because of incompatible assistive technology or a disability, please contact us at talentacquisition@umassmemorial.org. We will make every effort to respond to your request for disability assistance as soon as possible.