MN CHW Peer Network

The number of community health workers—also called lay health workers community health advisors or representatives, promotores(as) de salud and more—in the U.S. increased by more than 40 percent between 2000 and 2005. Minnesota follows this steep upward trend.

Because of increasing costs of medical care and insurance, many health care systems and organizations are discovering the benefits of training people to spread health information within their own communities and act as links to the formal health care system.

What We Do
Our network aims to facilitate resource-sharing and an information exchange among Minnesota’s community health workers from different organizations, communities and disciplines. In order to do this, we:

    * Hold monthly meetings for community health workers to receive in-service training and to network
    * Organize regional training opportunities for CHWs and their employers in urban and rural areas
    * Provide links to resources for CHWs and CHW employers
    * Organize a statewide conference for community health workers, employers, policy makers and others

 Organizational sponsors: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation and The Bush Foundation

Minnesota Community Health Worker Directory

Contact Us: chwpeernetwork@wellshareinternational.org

Latest News
The MN CHW Mini Conference which took place on January 29, 2010 was a big success.  Around 75 CHWs attended...
Please join us for the next CHW Peer Network meeting at the Minnesota Church Center, 122 West Franklin Avenue,...
Upcoming Events
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CHW Peer Network Chairs
Peer Network Chair Anita Buel of the CHW Deaf Community Health Worker Project
Peer Network Co Chair Sophia London of Face to Face Health and Counseling Service
CHW of the Quarter

Community Health Worker of the Quarter: 

Nou Yang

 

What inspired you to become a Community Health Worker?
My education background is Child Psychology and Elementary Education, licensed teacher.  From a young age, I’ve volunteered and worked for one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of St. Paul-Frog town primarily with the SE Asian immigrant/refugee communities.  I’ve realized that there are gaps in how these communities or poor communities are having access to health and social services compared to the mainstream culture. I felt that it was crucial for me to be an advocate for these communities in order to help bridge the disparities existing among communities for services.

What are your main projects; which communities do you primarily work with?
My job is focused on outreach. The majority of my responsibility is to education clients across all communities on state funded programs about the importance of preventive healthcare and helping them access services as well as to educate providers about C&TC program requirements, encourage compliance and assistance with coordination of training needs.

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