About Agentes de Cambio
Agentes de Cambio is a program funded by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and administered by the Doña Ana
County Health and Human Services Department to help businesses build
resilience through placement of community health workers (CHWs). Our
focus is on training and deploying CHWs in multiple settings to
address the secondary impacts of COVID.
At Agentes de Cambio, we believe that:
- There's a place for a CHW in every workplace
- A healthy community depends on a healthy
workforce
- COVID has changed our world, and those who want
to thrive need to adapt
- CHWs are an essential bridge to resources and
information that can help workers and businesses be resilient in a new work
environment changed by COVID
We work with employers across government, for-profit, and
non-profit sectors to identify how CHW services can support their mission and
benefit their employees. CHWs have traditionally been employed in health-care
and social services; we are also working to place them in nontraditional
sectors including K-12 schools, higher education, government, libraries,
manufacturing, food production, chambers of commerce, and other non-traditional
settings.
Participating CHWs are trained in COVID prevention and
mitigation measures, including socioeconomic and workplace safety measures.
These and other training topics have been identified through focus groups,
interviews, and surveys. Courses are delivered online in self-paced learning
modules; all courses can be adapted to incorporate synchronous Zoom sessions.
In addition, Agentes de Cambio CHWs are well versed
in finding resources and making referrals, assisting with eligibility and
enrollment in health insurance (especially Medicaid) and social services
programs, and multiple other services. All trainings align with the core
competencies and skills defined by the National Association of Community Health
Workers (NACHW) Core Consensus (C3)
Project.