Howard County General Hospital Receives State Accreditation

Washington DC

14 December, 2020

11:30 AM

Description

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Howard County General Hospital has received accreditation from the Maryland Department of Health to provide training and certification for community health workers who connect people in groups who have traditionally lacked adequate health care with health care and social services providers. Workers include health advocates, health coaches, lay health educators, public health workers, health representatives and outreach workers. "Community health workers are more critical than ever," said Elizabeth Edsall Kromm, vice president of population health and advancement at Howard County General Hospital. "They often come from similar backgrounds as the populations they serve, building trust with them, helping them take charge of their own health and serving as a bridge to health care providers." Offered three times a year, the community health worker training is a 14- to 15-week program that consists of 117 hours of online and virtual real-time sessions as well as in-person activities. This includes: Weekly modules with prerecorded learning which offers schedule flexibilityWeekly discussion board posts onlineForty-hour supervised practicum taken at Howard County General Hospital or an approved siteLearning activities via live video or in person with social and physical distancing The training will cover advocacy and community capacity building, communication and cultural competency, ethics and confidentiality issues, local resources and system navigation, care coordination, teaching to promote health, outreach methods and strategies as well as public health concepts and health literacy. The deadline for registration for the first cohort that begins Jan. 11 is Dec. 29. The program cost is $999.