{"id":142381,"date":"2021-05-25T16:22:36","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T02:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=142381"},"modified":"2021-05-25T19:42:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T05:42:46","slug":"chw-program-reaches-record-grads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/25\/chw-program-reaches-record-grads\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> graduates record number of community health workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_142365\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-142365\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-community-health-worker-spring-21-grads.jpeg\" alt=\"graduates with blue gown wearing lei and masks\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-142365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-community-health-worker-spring-21-grads.jpeg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-community-health-worker-spring-21-grads-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-community-health-worker-spring-21-grads-130x73.jpeg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-142365\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spring 2021 Community Health Worker program graduates (Photo credit: Hilary Hacker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> graduated a record number of students enrolled in its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kapiolani.hawaii.edu\/academics\/programs-of-study\/community-health-worker\/\">Community Health Worker<\/a> (<abbr>CHW<\/abbr>) certificate program this year. A total of 91 students (21 in fall 2020 and 70 in spring 2021) completed the 16-credit curriculum that offered both part-time and full-time cohorts at <a href=\"http:\/\/kapiolani.hawaii.edu\"><span aria-label=\"Kapiolani\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> Community College<\/a>. This is more than quadruple the number of students who normally complete the <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> program in a year since it started in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Students received free tuition thanks to a partnership with the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Department of Health (<abbr>DOH<\/abbr>). <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> graduates are now prepared to help improve the quality of health and address disparities in the community, as well as support the state\u2019s ongoing response to COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/tag\/uh-doh-contact-tracing\/\"><abbr>DOH&#8211;糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Contact Tracing Training Program<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/uhealthy.hawaii.edu\/\">糖心Vlog官方ealthy <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span><\/a> initiative, <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Community Colleges updated the <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> program curricula in 2020 so graduates were ready to support <abbr>DOH<\/abbr> in COVID-19 response efforts and help their communities access telehealth. By the end of the fall 2021 semester, more than 130 students will have earned their <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> certification through the <abbr>DOH&#8211;糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> program. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Related <em>糖心Vlog官方 News<\/em> story:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/02\/uh-chws-key-to-covid-response\/\"><abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr>-educated community health workers key to COVID-19 response<\/a>, March 2, 2021 <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;Community Health Workers are on the frontlines as they are trusted individuals in the community and often come from the communities they serve. It was extremely important to our team that we made sure to address any gaps in access to education, therefore addressing health inequities across our islands in order to ensure the safety of all during this time of COVID-19,&rdquo; said <strong>Hilary Hacker<\/strong>, <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> Recruitment Facilitator and Lecturer at <span aria-label=\"Kapiolani\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> <abbr title=\"community college\">CC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Community Health Workers play a key role in promoting well-being and preventing illness, from chronic diseases to pandemics. They\u2019re critical public health partners whose cultural knowledge, lived experience and language skills ensure our COVID-19 response is inclusive and our long term goals are equitable,&rdquo; said <abbr title=\"chris johnson\">CJ<\/abbr> Johnson, <abbr>DOH<\/abbr> COVID-19 Outreach and Public Health Education community liaison. &ldquo;We are grateful for our partnership with <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> that has dramatically increased the number of <abbr>CHW<\/abbr>s in the state of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_142364\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-142364\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-chw-grad-parents.jpg\" alt=\"graduate with parents wearing masks\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-142364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-chw-grad-parents.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-chw-grad-parents-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kapiolani-chw-grad-parents-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-142364\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CHW graduate Anne Selby with her parents at the 2021 Spring Commencement (Photo credit: Hilary Hacker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Free tuition and resources<\/h2>\n<p>Through the partnership, the <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> program received funding from <abbr>DOH<\/abbr> to provide tuition waivers for students enrolled during the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters. In addition, students received books, laptops and other wrap-around services such as technology and English Language Learner support. These services made it possible to reach those in remote areas or from underserved communities. <\/p>\n<h2>Preparing for a new career path<\/h2>\n<p>&ldquo;I have always worked in sales and obtained a bachelor\u2019s in business administration; however, the certification program has given me the foundation to pursue another career as a social worker,&rdquo; said <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> graduate <strong>Jamie Robertson-Leong<\/strong>. &ldquo;I had an amazing time learning and growing my skills during my practicum experience at Residential Youth Services and Empowerment while working with our homeless youth population, and I am looking forward to furthering my education and serving our community. I am grateful for the program and the professors at <span aria-label=\"Kapiolani\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> <abbr>CC<\/abbr>.&rdquo; Robertson-Leong plans to pursue a master&#8217;s degree in social work.<\/p>\n<p>After training approximately 130 <abbr>CHW<\/abbr>s through the <abbr>DOH&#8211;糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Contact Tracing Training Program, the <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Community Colleges program will continue to support workforce development across the islands. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uhealthy.hawaii.edu\/community-health-worker-program\/\">Learn more about the general <abbr>CHW<\/abbr> program and the COVID-19 response.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The program graduated more than quadruple the number of students who have earned their certification in previous years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1411,1416,63,71,947,1448],"class_list":["post-142381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-uh-helps","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-doh-contact-tracing","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142381"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142418,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142381\/revisions\/142418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}