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Some people might picture community health workers as busy little worker bees buzzing around with surveys, checklists, and clipboards. There’s an element of truth to that image: They’re indeed active as they educate clients and patients about health care issues and connect them with appropriate services and resources.

But CHWs aren’t just names on some roster – they have individual, unique backgrounds and experience that qualify them to perform this increasingly important role in the nation’s health care system.

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Some smokers will tell you cigarettes give them something to do with their hands. Here are 10 free smartphone apps that occupy the fingers of people who want to quit.

1. SmokefreeTXT

“SmokefreeTXT is a mobile text messaging program that provides 24/7 tips, advice, and encouragement to help you quit smoking.”

2. quitSTART

QuitSTART is a free app made for teens who want to quit smoking, but adults can use it too. This app takes the information about an individual’s smoking history and offers customized tips, inspiration, and challenges to help become smoke-free.

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It was the summer of 1957, and the way my parents met was like something out of an Elvis movie: a waterskiing blind date. My mother, Annette, a skinny 17-year-old, hit the water so hard at Denver’s Cherry Creek Reservoir that it pulled off her bikini top. Mortified, she hid behind her best friend Dee, who struggled to cover Mom while my 20-year-old eventual dad, Sherman, reclaimed her top.

Could you blame him for asking her out on a second date? And another after that?

To be that young in 1957 was to be hale, hearty, and invincible. They went to sock hops and double features. They went spelunking in the Rockies and took entry-level jobs with odd hours. Soon they eloped and started a family. My two sisters and brother came just a year and a half apart from one another. It was a typical home full of chaos and kids – and cigarettes.

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Americans, you need to take better care of yourselves. Most of us who feel passionate about healthy lifestyles know this, which is why we fight so hard to schedule you for screenings, sign you up for health care, help you put down that cigarette, and encourage you to watch your diets.

Every April, people who feel passionate about public health come together as part of National Public Health Week in an effort to understand the issues and strengthen policies. The goal is to make America the healthiest nation in the world by 2030 – just one generation away. The effort, organized by the American Public Health Association, “develops a national campaign to educate the public, policymakers, and practitioners about issues related to each year’s theme.”

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Community health workers in Washington are getting better at their jobs.

That’s according to the results of a state-wide program survey published by the Washington State Department of Health’s Office of Healthy Communities. Since 2011, the program has trained over 1000 people in the role of community health worker (CHW) in everything from core competencies such as organizational skills to health-specific topics such as behavioral health care.

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October is almost over–time to use up your budget before the end of the year before you lose it. An easy way to enrich your training program and build skills among your staff is to offer new courses from CHWTraining.org. Courses for non-clinical health workers include: •    Health Literacy: A Start
•    Introduction to the Newest Vital Sign
•    Navigating Health Insurance
•    Behavioral Healthcare
•    Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes
•    Facilitating Online Professional Development View the full list of courses here: http://chwtraining.org/course Register for a cohort of 10 by November 15 and receive 20% off.

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If there’s one enormous lesson US-based health organizations can take from the Ebola crisis, it’s to be prepared. Yet in my experience working with health departments across the United States, this preparedness rarely trickles down to community health workers.

CHWs are, as One Million Community Health Workers says, “uniquely positioned to improve access to care, health-seeking behavior, and healthy behavior.” CHWs can play a critical role in educating communities in Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) awareness and protection and also contact tracing and surveillance.

If you haven’t yet begun training your CHWs in what to do with Ebola in your community, start now. Here are a few dependable resources you can begin with by circulating to your team:

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Our friends at the 6th Annual Patient Navigator/Community Health Worker Conference have announced the date for the upcoming event (May 7, 2015) and have released a call for submissions for breakout sessions. If you haven’t been to this conference, you should consider going. CHWs and navigators from all around the country come, and it’s quickly emerging as the preeminent event in the field.

Telling Our Stories: The 6th Annual Patient Navigator/Community Health Worker Conference

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Four Points Sheraton Norwood

1125 Boston-Providence Highway (Route 1), Norwood, MA

Registration will open in early spring.

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Length: 60 minutes

Everyone talks about online learning, but what does it really mean? We’ll cut through the jargon to explain the basics of health-based e-learning, and discuss why offering online courses can help you boost your enrollment numbers. We’ll identify the elements you’ll need to structure your online training program.

Watch this on-demand webinar to learn how to get the whole team on board, what the technology requirements are, and why your learners are probably asking for online module delivery. You’ll walk away with knowledge about online training that will help energize your organization and help you increase participation in your program.

View the webinar now >>

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