Congratulations to Maria Bautista (interim vice chancellor for academic affairs), Joey Dewater (Community Health Worker Program coordinator), and Hilary Hacker (director of the Community Health Education Program) on their successful application for a federal grant worth nearly $1.3 million.
A $1.29 million grant awarded to Kapi‘olani Community College Community Health Worker Training Program will address health disparities for people living in economically and medically under-resourced communities in the State of Hawaiʻi through a project called Kapi‘olani Community College’s Community Health Worker Training Program (CHWTP): Removing Barriers to Care in Urban Polynesia.
The grant project, funded by Health Resources & Services Administration’s (HRSA) Community Health Worker Training Program of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, will expand training to new community health workers (CHWs), extend existing CHW skills through Emergency Medical Technician training (CHW-EMT), and deploy CHWs to address areas of higher social vulnerability and improve health equity.
“Kapi‘olani’s Community Health Worker Training Program serves as a bridge between the formal health system and vulnerable communities in the State of Hawaiʻi. This federal grant provides the resources Kapi‘olani needs to leverage our health academic program’s expertise and expand its reach into the communities we serve. We honor Queen Kapi‘olani’s vision to provide education and access to proper quality health care to Hawaiʻi’s most vulnerable communities through this project,” shared Principal Investigator Maria Bautista, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The Kapiʻolani Community College Health Worker Training Program is a 16-credit training program with an ongoing statewide recruitment from local communities. Since 2019, more than 50% of students were from environmentally, economically, and/or educationally disadvantaged communities including 100% of students (33 of 33) enrolled from 2019-2020, and 73% of students (112 of 153) enrolled from 2020-2021. The expansion of the program from 2020 and beyond came through the Hawai‘i State Department of Health-UH Contact Tracing Training Program, part of the UHealthy Hawai‘i Initiative, whose staff and programs were leveraged as a foundation for this grant.
“Cohorts for this program will come from residents of environmentally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged communities and will include Native Hawaiian, Chuukese, and Marshallese students, first generation college students, housing project residents, and student from the highest areas of social vulnerability in Lanai, Maui, Kauaʻi, and Hawaiʻi Island per the 2018 CDC social vulnerability index for Hawaiʻi,” says Joey Dewater, Kapiʻolani CC Community Health Worker Program Coordinator.
Expansion of CHW Training: The program aims to prepare 30 participants annually through a 16-credit training program and an apprenticeship with employers that leads to long-term employment.
In-person training for the Island of Oʻahu: CHW participants will complete the Certificate of Competence training in-person and through external partnerships with Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and Kokua Kalihi Valley. The areas of Wai‘anae and Kalihi Valley rank among the highest for social vulnerability in the state with large populations of Native Hawaiians, Chuukese, and Marshallese residents in public housing projects.
Online training for the neighbor islands: Participants from the islands of Lanai, Maui, Hawaiʻi, and Kaua‘i will complete their training online. The neighbor islands face unique challenges recruiting healthcare professionals and reaching remote communities ranking the highest in social vulnerability.
Extension of Skills in Emergency Medical Technician Training: In addition to the expansion of CHW training, the program will aim to extend the skills of 10 practicing CHWs with a full-time 19.6-credit Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training to obtain an EMT state license. After completing the courses, students will be placed on ambulances in their local areas to complete 350 hours of paid clinical training, with a goal of full-time employment as a CHW-EMT. CHW-EMTs will be hired on ambulances in order to reduce the number of preventable 911 calls and transports, delivering CHW services to our most common 911 utilizers: kūpuna (elders), unsheltered community members, and those in a mental health crisis.
“We worked with our community partners to come up with a program to train community members in place, and respond to a shortage of CHWs and community paramedicine trained EMTs,” says Dewater. “This program was created directly from their feedback. We are very proud of the program we’ve put together and are excited to get to work.”
The Kapiʻolani Community College Health Worker Training Program will begin its next statewide course series in January 2023. For more information please contact Recruitment Facilitator Hilary Hacker, hackerh@hawaii.edu to apply.
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