Washington County is currently hiring for a Community Health Worker. The Community Health Worker assists individuals in accessing and navigating health and social services, with a focus on all aspects of health and wellness for an individual, family and the community. They will serve as a liaison between county services and the individual/community to simplify the process to access services, improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery while building community capacity. Bicultural and/or bilingual candidates with close ties to cultural communities such as (but not limited to) American Indian, African American, East African, Hmong, Latinx, are encouraged to apply. Current need is for candidates with a connection to the Hmong Community.

DESIRABLES:

• Multilingual speaker
• Community Health Worker Certificate or are currently in a program to receive your certificate
• Bicultural with close ties to a community such as (but not limited to) American Indian, African American, East African, Hmong or Latinx
• Experience interacting with and providing customer service to individuals from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds
• Experience (paid, unpaid or volunteer) building relationships in a community-based setting with local or community-based organizations (such as schools, community, faith-based organizations, and health care facilities)
• Experience (paid, unpaid or volunteer) providing information, outreach, and/or coordination of care to individuals and groups within diverse communities
• Experience (paid, unpaid or volunteer) educating and providing culturally appropriate resources on topics such as wellness, physical activity, nutrition, vaccinations, employment, housing, transportation, financial assistance, etc.

Core Competencies Core Competencies outline essential business and professional, and leadership and work traits necessary to perform this job.

• Promotes a diverse, culturally competent and respectful workplace;
• Promotes a culture of continuous quality improvement in the workplace;
• Builds effective work relationships
• Provides high-quality customer service
• Understands county business
• Demontrates knowledge of available resources in the county and the community;
• Demonstrates knowledge of the social determinants of health;
• Demonstrates strong ability to organize and work with community groups and individuals;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates ability to effectively represent the county in the community, at policy forums and at interagency meetings;
• Demonstrates the ability to translate complex information into understandable messages;
• Demonstrates ability to works independently and in a team in an effective and efficient manner to meet assigned duties and department deliverables

• Provides information, outreach, and coordination of care to individuals and professionals within diverse communities, while following protocols and policies for assigned duties. This includes face-to-face, phone or group interactions, and may include traveling to an individual’s home, community locations, various agencies, and other outreach destinations
• Build and maintain effective working relationships and communications with community members, local organizations, schools, community, faith-based organizations, and health care facilities
• Educate and promote wellness by providing culturally appropriate health information to individuals and groups such as health literacy, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco, vaccinations, etc.
• Educate and promote information related to the social determinants of health such as employment, housing, transportation, financial assistance, etc.
• Assist in gathering data to identify community strengths and assets as well as supporting needed services
• Articulate and advocate needs of the community and individuals to county staff to assist in the evaluation of the individual’s needs or input for community health projects
• Maintain accurate and timely documentation of completed work
• Attend and/or support at community engagement meetings and events and represent Washington County in person or virtually.
• Performs public health emergency response functions as trained and assigned within the department’s emergency response plan

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Semi-sedentary involving office and outside field work. Lifting requirement may include lifting up to 50 pounds. Exposures may include but not be limited to disagreeable odors, communicable diseases, bodily fluids and behavior challenges. Use of general office equipment to include telephone, cell phone, personal computer, laptop computer, electronic recorder, video recorder, mobile microphone, calculator, etc. Additional physical/mental requirements that occur may not be listed above but are inherent in performing the position's essential functions.

This job description is intended to describe the kinds of tasks and the level of work difficulty being performed by people assigned to this classification. The list of responsibilities is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required by personnel so classified. The County retains the discretion to add or change the contents of this job description at any time.

Washington County offers a comprehensive benefit package (Download PDF reader) including paid time off, holidays, medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance.