Community Health Worker - Food Insecurity Project

The members will be helping with Community Health work within New Castle County. This will include addressing social determinants of health related to food security and health literacy, as well as outreach efforts focused on health outcomes. To help address inequities food security, access to health care, and health literacy within New Castle County, the members will conduct outreach to patients to facilitate opportunities for these individuals. This will include providing information and education to individuals who are food insecure, unable to have access to health care, or who are health illiterate to close the gap for underserved populations and to break down some of the barriers for our patients and communities.

This project directly aligns with the National Health Corps’ mission, as it will increase access for underserved communities in Delaware, including for individuals who are not currently patients of Westside. The work these members will be doing will directly affect patients who are at a higher risk for associated health disparities through the prioritization of outreach to these groups. By creating a team of people focused on expanding access to food security, health care, and addressing health literacy for underserved populations, these projects will be able to impact the health disparities experienced by these communities.

The members will directly address structural oppression by screening for and removing barriers, serving as a resource to the community to ensure that underserved populations have the appropriate resources and education. More than 15% of the members’ time will be spent on this activity, as outreach will be a large part of the role. Through their outreach, the members will gain a better understanding of the barriers experienced by underserved communities. The members will then connect patients to the appropriate resources needed to address these barriers. Westside is particularly well suited for this kind of work as we have social service coordinators and other resources to help break down these barriers and facilitate access to needed resources.

Because of the target population for providing food security, access to health care, and health literacy, the members will have recurring access to vulnerable populations in those the target populations. The specific recurring access includes telephone and/or in-person outreach and in-person in the clinic, or outreach events.

Outreach to 50 patients per week with hopes of screening and connecting the patients to services.

Create the check in tools that will be used on patients after being connected to food resources

Work on expanding program materials and build toolkits.

Members will need to be comfortable and confident on the phone talking to patients. Because some of the work will include providing information to help evaluate social determinates of health, strong interpersonal skills are required. The member will need to be detail oriented, possess strong problem-solving skills, and be able to seamlessly flow from one activity to another. The member should be flexible and reliable. Being technically savvy and able to use a computer and telephone is ideal. Community outreach experience would be beneficial.

LeAnn Myers MSN, RN, NEA-BC,

Director of Quality Improvement

300 Water Street, Suite 200

Leann.myers@wetsidehealth.org

Samantha Decenord 

Program Coordinator of National Health Corps Community Health Fellowship

samantha.decenord@newcastlede.gov

Tonya Richardson

Program Director of National Health Corps Community Health Fellowship

tonya.richardson@newcastlede.gov

In order to be eligible to serve in this position and in the NHC Program, a person must meet the following requirements:

1. Must be at least 18 years of age by the time the service term begins.

2. Must be a United States citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident.

3. Must have a high school diploma or an equivalency certificate and must not have dropped out of elementary or secondary school in order to enroll as an AmeriCorps member (unless enrolled in an institution of higher education on an ability to benefit basis and is considered eligible for funds under section 484 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. 1091), or who has been determined through an independent assessment conducted by the Program to be incapable of obtaining a high school diploma or its equivalent.

4. Must have complied with all AmeriCorps required criminal history checks including 1) a State Criminal Registry Check of the AmeriCorps-designated repository in both the state in which the Program operates and the state in which the member resided at the time they applied to the Program; 2) a nationwide fingerprint-based FBI background check; and 3) a Department of Justice National Sex Offender Registry Check. The member understands that if the results of the required criminal history checks reveal that they are subject to a state sex offender registration requirement and/or have been convicted of homicide (1st, 2nd or 3rd degree) they will be ineligible to serve in the Program. The member also understands they will have the opportunity to review and dispute the findings from the criminal history check.

5. Must submit valid forms of documentation to prove date of birth and citizenship/naturalization/resident alien status and must have a valid government-issued photo identification.

6. Must disclose any history of having been released from another AmeriCorps program; failure to do so will render one ineligible to receive the education award.

7. Must submit evidence that they successfully completed any previous AmeriCorps terms, if applicable.

8. Must furnish all other documentation deemed appropriate by the Program and Host Site

Members who are bilingual in English and Spanish would be incredibly helpful as many of our patients identify Spanish as their preferred language.

Westside requires criminal background checks, child abuse checks, drug screening, and COVID-19 vaccination to be employed. We also require certain vaccines depending upon the role in the organization. Westside pays for all the required screenings.