Mountain Empire Community College of Health Sciences

Community Health Worker Training Initiative

The Project

Mountain Empire Community College of Health Sciences will play a vital role in strengthening the regional community health workforce by developing an online Community Health Worker (CHW) training program. This program will be offered as an independent career studies certificate or a stackable credential within existing health care programs, ensuring flexible career pathways.

Work to be Conducted:

Develop a CHW Training Program, aligning with state certification standards.
Conduct a needs assessment with regional health care organizations to ensure program relevance.
Recruit diverse CHW trainees, prioritizing those with local cultural and health care knowledge.
Engage the community by hosting at least six health workshops or campus events annually.

Goals to be Achieved:

Launch the CHW program by Fall 2025 and enroll the first cohort.
Recruit and train CHW students
Strengthen K-12 engagement, introducing CHW career pathways to school administrators.
Increase community health impact by tracking event participation and satisfaction.

Healthy Appalachia Institute Next Steps:

As this program unfolds, we aim to better understand what impact developing and launching a Community Health Worker (CHW) training program in Southwest Virginia may have in strengthening the regional health workforce. By offering the program as an independent career studies certificate or a stackable credential within existing health care programs, it could potentially address the need for flexible career pathways.

We invite you to revisit this page as this project

is updated and as the evaluation

of the project continues

Evidence from Across Appalachia

Identifying Community Perspectives for a Lung Cancer Screening Campaign in Appalachia

This study utilized focus groups in Appalachian Kentucky to gather community input on developing a lung cancer screening campaign. Community Health Workers played a crucial role in recruiting participants and facilitating discussions, underscoring the importance of CHWs in community-engaged research and health promotion efforts.

Community Health and Mobilization Prevention Services (CHAMPS)

Research conducted in Appalachian Kentucky explored the use of telehealth to deliver diabetes self-management education (DSME). The study found that telehealth interventions effectively increased access to DSME, addressing the shortage of healthcare providers in the region and improving diabetes care.

Project Updates

Stay tuned for upcoming project updates