CHW Course Catalog

CHW – 101- The Basics
This course provides an overview of the health care system and community health work. Students will gain an understanding of the role of community health workers, the scope of their function and services, and how they interact with other health personnel and resources.

CHW – 101 – The Basics [In Spanish]
(*Spanish language version) In this series you will learn about diabetes, it’s impact on the body and the importance of keeping it under control. You will learn ways to help manage diabetes through healthy eating and will also be able to view a live virtual cooking demo.

Understanding Health Disparities 101
This course will introduce community health workers to the preventable difference in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities that have been proven to reduce achieving optimal health experienced by socially disadvantaged populations.

Chronic Diseases
Chronic diseases are defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both.  In this course an overview of the major chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes which are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States will be covered.

Diabetes
In this series you will learn about diabetes, it’s impact on the body and the importance of keeping it under control. You will learn ways to help manage diabetes through healthy eating and will also be able to view a live virtual cooking demo.

Heart Disease
In depth it’s impact on the body control their high blood pressure, prevent risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and reduce health disparities, which are differences in health across different geographic, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. These efforts have helped lower death rates from heart disease and stroke.

Cancer (Breast, Cervical, Prostate)
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, but many kinds of cancer can be prevented or caught early. Leading risk factors for preventable cancers are smoking, getting too much ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning beds, being overweight or having obesity, and drinking too much alcohol.

Asthma and COPD Basics
This course is designed to provide CHWs with the knowledge and skills to identify, education, and support individuals with Asthma and Chronic Pulmonary Diseases in their communities.

Mental Health
This training will provide an overview of mental health stressors inherent to daily life and concerns of clients, families, communities, and society at large. The course covers the most frequently identified disorders, such as depression, anxiety, phobias, and others.

Oral Health
Oral health affects our ability to eat, speak, smile, and show emotions. Oral health also affects a person’s self-esteem, school performance, and attendance at work or school. Oral diseases—which range from cavities and gum disease to oral cancer—cause pain and disability for millions of Americans and cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

Covid 19 & Contact Tracing
This course provides an overview of contact tracing investigations to meet the demand of the growing public health workforce for Contact Tracing Investigators. The course will provide training on the basics of disease transmission, the principles behind case isolation and quarantine of contacts as a public health measure, the ethics around public health data collection and use, risk communication, cultural sensitivity, health equity and the basics of data collection for COVID-19 and other communicable diseases where contact tracers are needed.

Healthy Eating and Active Living
This course will provide students with the information necessary to promote healthy eating styles and proper food preparation for all age groups. This course gives the students information about identifying the relationship of diet to disease. Attention is given to the treatment of disease by diet modification.

Comprehensive Training on Sexual Transmitted Infections (STI) for CHWs.
This comprehensive training course equips CHWs with the essential knowledge and skills required to effectively address sexually transmitted infectious (STI) within their communities.

Addressing Substance Use Disorders within the community using a health equity lens.
This comprehensive training program is designed to equip CHWs with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to effectively address substance use disorders within their communities.

Maternal Child Health Basics
This session will cover understanding the factors that contribute/impact infant and maternal mortality. In addition, this training will provide participants with basic teaching tips for addressing infant and maternal wellness.

Men’s Health
This course is designed to provide CHW with the knowledge and skills to promote men’s health and prevent common men’s health problems in their communities.

Working with Older adults
This training will provide CHW with information on the basics of aging, aging and the effect of Chronic disease and understating and recognizing elder abuse. Further, this series will include assisting CHWs with to identifying resources for working with the aging population.

Motivational Interviewing Advanced
This course will advance CHW’s skills with motivational interviewing by reviewing and practicing applications of key techniques including: rolling with resistance, simple and complex reflections and developing discrepancies.

Health Legacy
In the United States, health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and complications from diabetes disproportionately affect people of color. These conditions can be managed with proper treatment and prevention strategies such as healthy diet and regular exercise. Working in communities of color, the Health Legacy Program was created to touch the lives of women who are the “health regulators” of their families so that they can share what they learned to establish better health habits within their family units and larger community. This course will review the framework and theories behind the Health Legacy Program, including the complementary role of health education, facilitated community building (via “circle supports”), and action planning to support behavior change. This course is delivered by trainers from RUSH’s Social Work and Community Health – Rush Generations program.

Understanding and Using Telehealth & Emergency response
This course provides an introduction to Telehealth and examples of the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It will discuss the difference between telehealth and telemedicine. It will also demonstrate the various technologies used which allow long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring, and remote admissions, especially in emergency situations.

Health Literacy and Cultural Relevance: Addressing the Healthcare Needs of Diverse Populations
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Will learn how to search for and use health information, adopt healthy behaviors, and act on important public health alerts.

Advocacy, Communication and Presentation Skill Development
This training will provide CHW with how to identify different communication styles and how to effectively apply them when developing a presentation.

Being Part of the integrated Health Care Team
This course introduces individuals to the components of care coordination. In addition, it provides general roles and responsibilities of care coordination team.

Taking Care of Self (Our Healthcare Journey)
Participants explore the features, symptoms, and risk factors of compassion fatigue along with self-awareness exercises and self-care strategies as key components for prevention.

Leadership Skill Building – Part 1
The basics of leadership and understanding how to effectively run a meeting utilizing Robert’s Rules of Order.

Leadership Skill Building – Part 2
Focus on advanced leadership skills, including integrating community health workers into the team, organization and larger community.

Understanding Research
This course will provide an introduction to the goals and core principles of community based participatory research.

Advocacy & Health Policy
This course provides community health workers with the skills required to identify health needs within a community, potential resources, key decision makers; and to develop strategies necessary to promote change for better health outcomes.

Communication & Grant Writing
This course will offer an introduction to the basic sources of funding including city, state, federal and private sources as well as an introduction to the basic components of a grant proposal.

Understanding and Using Technology
This course designed to provide community health workers with the knowledge and skills to utilize digital health tools to improve health outcomes in their communities.

Career Building Techniques – Part 1
Making a good first impression.

Career Building Techniques – Part 2
Developing a personal Portfolio.

Citizen Scientist
Developing research careers, developing capabilities in evidence-based practice and/or in partnering with academic institutions, community-based organizations (CBOs), and/or public health departments.

Introduction To Community Health Worker [high school]
This course will introduce the work performed by community health workers (CHWs). Students will explore what skills are required to be a community health worker and encouraged to share their own perspectives and lived experiences as applicable to course content. Additionally, there will be a focus on work force development information examining what are the various ways CHWs are utilized locally and across the country.

HERO – Introduction to Community Health Worker [high school]
Part II. Introduction to Community Health Worker [high school]

ABC’s of Diabetes
In this series you will learn about diabetes, it’s impact on the body and the importance of keeping it under control. You will learn ways to help manage diabetes through healthy eating and will also be able to view a live virtual cooking demo.

Compassion Fatigue
Participants explore the features, symptoms, and risk factors of compassion fatigue along with self-awareness exercises and self-care strategies as key components for prevention.

Community Engagement
This course explores a more contextualized understanding of community members’ perceptions of the topics and contexts, and facilitates stronger relationships among and between community members. The course details how community engagement is ultimately social capital and stronger relational networks. While community organizing involves the process of building a grassroots movement involving communities, community engagement primarily deals with the practice of moving communities toward change, usually from a stalled or similarly suspended position.

Mental Health First Aid [Pre-work required]
This training will provide an overview of mental health stressors inherent to daily life and concerns of clients, families, communities, and society at large. The course covers the most frequently identified disorders, such as depression, anxiety, phobias, and others.

Breastfeeding Basics
This course will explore the benefits, techniques, support for mothers who want to breastfeed and some of the reasons mother stop breastfeeding early. The course highlights certain factors that make the difference in whether and how long infants are breastfed.

Violence Prevention
This training will provide an overall discussion defining trauma informed care; trauma and substance use; and the various roles that Community Health Workers play in violence prevention programs, including community, youth and family violence.

Community Health Worker – Supervision – Basic
This course will provide guidance for new supervisors of community health workers on topics including: understanding core competencies, roles and responsibilities, developing clear standards and methods for monitoring and evaluation, importance of recognizing and strategies to combat compassion fatigue, understanding lived experience.

Community Health Worker – Supervision – Advanced
This course will address the needs of seasoned CHW supervisors with topics that include developing problem-solving strategies, identifying and addressing training needs, peer supervision, integration into care planning, advocating for CHWs within the larger organization.

Domestic Violence
This course will provide an overview of domestic violence, including victims, effects on children, cultural competence, empowerment and advocacy, resources for support and assistance.

Faith and Community Health Workers
Description is TBD

Safety and Community Health Workers
This course is designed to provide Community Health Workers with an understanding of personal health and safety issues in the workplace and to equip them with strategies and de-escalation techniques to minimize their risks.

Scope of Work for Community Health Workers
This course will present for discussion topics of importance to the work of Community health workers including: an update on CHW certification in IL, defining the scope of work for CHWs–boundaries and expectations, what are the core competencies for CHWs, evaluation and assessment, and continuing education.

Integration of Community Health Workers into Community Based Organizations
This course will address the deployment of community health workers in community-based organizations with a focus on funding strategies, health care collaborations, organizational capacity, program design and implementation.

• Chronic Disease Management
• Wellness
• COVID-19

Series will be presented virtual/hybrid. Workshop topics are outlined below. Each workshop will run for 2 hours per meeting. Registration is free.

Substance Use Disorders
Instructor: Shanett Jones
April 29 and May 1
10:00a-12:00p CST

Heart Disease/Hypertension
Instructor: Evelyn Figueroa
May 6 and 10
10:00a-12:00p CST

HIVs and STIs
Instructor: Shanett Jones
May 20, 22
10:00a-12:00p CST

Digital Health Literacy
Instructor: Bhrandon Harris
June 3 and 7
10:00a-12:00p CST

Asthma/COPD
Instructor: Evelyn Figueroa
June 24 and 28
10:00a-12:00p CST

Men’s Health
Instructor: Bhrandon Harris
July 8, 12
10:00a-12:00p CST

The goal of CHW Connect training model is to prepare individuals with the basic skills to be effective Community Health Workers. Real life scenarios and exercises are built into each component to reinforce skills. This training program includes:

• Didactic Community Health Worker Training based on the core competencies and modular topics
• Assignments will include readings, self-assessments, practice reflections, and/or additional activities
• Classes will include case study reviews and skills practice sessions
• Supplemental special health-related topic seminars

Please note, you must at minimum have CHW basic certification or previous CHW work experience.