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Year: 2022

Giving Tuesday 2022

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Giving Tuesday 2022: Join Us In Our Fight for Healthy and Equitable Communities

Join Us In Our Fight for Healthy & Equitable Communities  

IPHI strengthens health systems and policy, enhances conditions that promote health, and builds community capacity to ensure equitable health opportunities for all. We believe all people and communities should have equal opportunities to live and be healthy. 

This Giving Tuesday, consider a gift to IPHI as we work to dismantle health inequities and strengthen communities in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. IPHI’s work includes:  

  • Community Health Worker Initiatives: Working with our partners, IPHI supports the development, coordination, and evaluation of Community Health Worker (CHW) initiatives. IPHI helps conduct CHW and clinical care team training programs; design, coordinate, and evaluate CHW programs; build awareness about the value of CHWs across the community; grow and sustain the CHW workforce and CHW services, including laying the groundwork for policy change to enable CHW certification and more sustainable financing; and develop the Center for the Community Health Workforce and CHW professional networks.
  • Healthy & Equitable Communities Training  IPHI offers training and technical assistance to organizations and coalitions. Our training fuse theory with practice and allow participants to apply the knowledge and tools presented in training and implement them in their everyday work to create healthy, equitable, thriving communities.

Here are some of our targeted initiatives and coalitions in the region: 

District of Columbia  

The DC Healthy Housing Collaborative is a multi-sector coalition seeking to address substandard housing conditions that contribute to significant health issues affecting District of Columbia residents. The DC Healthy Housing Collaborative envisions a DC where all housing promotes health, wellness, and safety and is affordable. DC will be a city where all are welcome and can thrive in strong, resilient, and well-resourced communities.  

Maryland 

Prince George’s Food Equity Council works to improve the public health and community well-being of all who live, work, study, worship, and play in the County. The FEC believes every resident, regardless of race, class, or zip code, should easily access healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate, and locally produced foods. FEC partners and volunteers work to increase food storage and distribution, improve access to food assistance resources, and increase access to healthy food for food-insecure residents at risk for diabetes through enrollment in our food-as-medicine program, Prince George’s Fresh.   

Virginia 

ImmunizeVA is a statewide immunization coalition that strives to protect the health and well-being of all Virginians by achieving and maintaining complete immunization protection through education, advocacy, statewide collaboration, and the promotion of equity.  

Please consider a gift to help dismantle health inequities and strengthen our region. 

Maryland state employees: Charity Campaign (MCC) – 46-3039129 

Virginia state employees: Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) – 201412 

Donate

Tell Your Story For Change Series

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Tell Your Story for Change Flyer

IPHI and the District of Columbia (DC) Community Health Workers (CHW) Association invite CHWs to a virtual workshop on DC law. The Children’s Law Center will facilitate this series.

TOPICS

  • How to tell stories and advocate for CHW needs in DC
  • How the law works in DC and public speaking tips
  • Work 1:1 to write your story and propose solutions for future use
  • October 17 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
  • October 24 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

To register, click: HERE. 

Mental Health First Aid for Community Health Workers (CHWs) Training

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Mental Health First Aid for CHWs Flyer

Mental health is just as important as physical health. Mental health stigma persists in minority communities, with research showing an increase during COVID-19. When we normalize conversations about mental health, it empowers people to talk and seek the help they need. 

All trainings will be from 10 a.m. to noon,

Training 1

  • October 12, 14, 19, and 24

Training 2

  • November 15, 16, 17, and 18

There are only 20 seats available per training, so register soon! 

To register, click: HERE. 

Community Health Workers (CHWs) & Healthy Housing Webinar: 9/22/2022

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CHWs & Healthy Housing Flyer

IPHI’s DC Health Housing Collaborative (DCHHC) is hosting a webinar on Thursday, September 22, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. via Zoom. Join the conversation to discover how CHWs can help residents address their housing problems, look for potential hazards, and find resources. 

This webinar is for CHWs in the District of Columbia. 

To register, click: HERE. 

Community Health Worker (CHW) Core Skills Competency Training

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CHW Core Skills Competency Training Flyer

IPHI’s award-winning CHW training involves minimal didactic teaching and full adult participatory methods. The training includes team-building exercises, role-plays, dyad work, group interaction, teach-backs, and presentations. 

To register, click: HERE. 

Training Topics:

  • Human Rights, Equity & Perspective Transformation
  • Communication
  • Public Health Knowledge
  • Introduction to the CHW Role: CHW History, Roles, Skills, Tasks
  • CHW Legal and Ethical Issues
  • Data Collection and Medical Records
  • Teaching and Capacity-Building Skills & Clinical Practice
  • Health Education and Prevention
  • Outreach and Advocacy
  • Resource Identification and Organization
  • Disease Management, Including Chronic Disease, HIV, Mental Health, Substance
  • Misuse and Behavior Change

For organizations seeking CHW team trainings or customized CHW training, please contact Program Coordinator Dwyan Monroe at [email protected]. For enrollment or leaning management system assistance, please contact [email protected].

Virginia Community Health Worker (CHW) Continuing Education

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Virginia CHW Continuing Education Flyer

If you’re one of the following:
  • Virginia CHW
  • outreach worker
  • community health advocate
  • community health advisor
  • person that provides outreach in health education, healthcare navigation, and/or helps the community address the social barriers to managing health

Please join these CHW skill- and health-related training sessions to be successful in the CHW field.

Click: HERE to register.

Two Steps Forward: Racism IS a Public Health Crisis  

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A Statement from the Institute for Public Health Innovation Staff and Board of Directors: 

Last year, Virginia made history as the first southern state to declare racism as a public health crisis. It was an essential step in the long and challenging work of undoing institutional racism in Virginia’s policies, systems, structures, and norms. Then last week, The Washington Post brought to light a troubling perspective that underscores the challenges and urgency of the work ahead. Understanding racism and acknowledging its central role in creating the profound health inequities in our region provides opportunities to create the intentional change necessary to truly make a difference in the public’s health. 

This work begins with developing a shared understanding of how racism, particularly institutional racism, is defined. That work progresses by acknowledging the large body of evidence that illuminates the effects that racism has on individual and community health. Racism creates obstacles for Black and Brown Virginians to achieve their best health and for all of us to collectively address the stark disparities and inequities in health outcomes. Of course, Virginia is not unique in its history, or the ways that blatant and concealed racism affects the public’s health. This formal acknowledgment is one that many state and local jurisdictions have recently made to demonstrate their commitment to take meaningful action to address health inequities. 

While racism and gun violence are highly politicized, that does not take away from the evidence that these are significant public health issues. In addition, efforts to address them promote values that are important to share and reflect what the public health field is all about — humanity is precious and that everyone deserves health and well-being. Those in leadership positions are responsible for combining empathy with science to solve social problems and protect and promote the public’s health.  

After the Virginia resolution was passed, we partnered with the Voices for Virginia’s Children and the Virginia Public Health Association to host a 4-part webinar titled, “Racism is a Public Health Crisis in Virginia .” We encourage others to view the series for educational purposes and to identify ways to get involved. In the future, we intend to facilitate further discussions to highlight practical strategies and actions to continue to make progress. We are deeply committed to intentional action in collaborating with our many current and future partners. 

In closing, we express our ongoing support for the dedicated professionals at the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) who work tirelessly to promote health and advance health equity, often without recognition. VDH is an essential partner to our organization. Together, we have accomplished a lot to improve health outcomes. We look forward to working alongside the agency as we strive for equitable health opportunities for all Virginians.  

We hope this moment can fuel continued commitment among governmental and non-governmental organizations to work together to take another step forward in addressing racism as a public health crisis.  

CHWS for a Healthy VA: Team & Supervisor Integration Training

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Team & Supervisor Integration Training Flyer

This comprehensive and virtual training program includes four 4-hour modules. Each module builds on a designed sequence of content and skills to successfully prepare host sites to manage CHW programs. All sessions will take place on Wednesdays.
 

Summer session

  • July 6 and 20, from 12:30 p.m. yo 4:30 p.m.

Fall session

  • September 14 and 18, October 12 and 26, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Each session includes a 30-minute break.

Click: HERE to register.

CHW Discovery Series: CHWs Addressing Health Disparities in Chronic Disease

Posted on by Allison Chinyavong

RCMI CHW Discovery Series Flyer

Join Howard University and Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) as they provide specialized CHW training on community-based participatory research topics relevant to local communities.

All trainings will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. with a 30-minute break.

Tues. May 24 – CHWs and Research

  • Describe the various types of research and how they are different and similar.
  • Explain the importance of research.
  • Explain barriers and resistance for minority communities in participating in research opportunities.
  • Develop strategies to promote research and show how it can be used to help your community.

Tues. June 14 – The Role of CHWs in Bringing Awareness of the Importance of Sleep in Communities 

  • Historical and Cultural Perspectives of Sleep
  • The Racial Inequalities of Sleep
  • Factors that Influence Sleep
  • Variations in Sleep
  • Promoting Sleep in Communities
  • Overcoming Factors that Interfere with sleep
  • You and your biological clock
  • When to seek treatment

Tues. July 12 – Cancer 101 

  • Define key clinical terms for each chronic disease
  • Explain the signs, symptoms, and prevalence of each chronic disease
  • Describe risk factors for each chronic disease
  • List types of prevention and treatment and their benefits for each chronic disease
  • Describe the role of CHWs in supporting clients with a particular chronic disease
  • List some resources for managing the chronic disease

Tues. August 9 – Pre-Diabetes and Diabetes 

  • About Diabetes Types-CDC
  • Are You At Risk For Type 2 Test?
  • Pre-Diabetes Test
  • Pre-Diabetes Infographic-CDC
  • Prevent Type 2 CDC Infographic
  • US Diabetes Infographic-CDC
  • Diabetes and Prediabetes Resource List

To register, click: HERE.