Howard County General Hospital offers training and certification for those interested in becoming a Community Health Worker (CHW).
Do you enjoy caring for others?
A CHW can work in many different roles serving the health care needs of the community to include:
- conducting outreach for medical personnel or health care organizations to implement programs in the community that promote, maintain and improve individual and community health.
- helping individuals to encourage the adoption of healthy behaviors and to increase their health knowledge and self-sufficiency by providing health information and resources, social support and informal counseling.
- advocating for individual and community health needs.
About the Program
Howard County General Hospital’s CHW Training Program is accredited by the Maryland Department of Health and will be held three times annually. The program is administered by HCGH’s Community Care Team (CCT).
The training consists over 100 hours of online and virtual real-time sessions that are completed within 14-15 weeks. This includes:
- weekly modules with prerecorded learning which offers schedule flexibility.
- weekly, discussion board posts online.
- a 40-hour in person field practicum facilitated by the CCT at HCGH.
- a small number of learning activities via live video or in person with social and physical distancing observed.
The curriculum focuses on the required nine core competencies:
- Advocacy and community capacity building skills
- Effective oral and written communication skills
- Cultural competency
- Understanding of ethics and confidentiality issues
- Knowledge of local resources and system navigation
- Care coordination support skills
- Teaching skills to promote healthy behavior change
- Outreach methods and strategies
- Understanding of public health concepts and health literacy
To receive certification, participants must complete all module activities, pass a knowledge assessment and complete a case study presentation.
Participants must be 18 years old or older and have earned a high school degree or GED. You are not required to have any prior health care training.
Our training program follows the Johns Hopkins Health System vaccine policy. This means that all learners will be required to show proof of being fully vaccinated for both COVID-19 and the flu prior to the first day of class.
We are pleased to announce that we will be offering a limited number of scholarships that cover a portion of the training cost for the CHW Training Program. Inquire by emailing HCGH_CHWTraining@jhmi.edu.
To learn more about CHW training, contact the Community Care Team: call 410-720-8788 or email.
Apply