Building Bridges with Communities
The Committing to Health Engagement and Care in Kentucky (CHECK) Community Health Worker (CHW) Program provides a prepared cadre of CHWs to support bidirectional linkage between the University of Kentucky academic and healthcare system and communities, particularly those that require navigation to healthcare and resources to address unmet social needs.
CHECK leverages the existing infrastructure of the Center for Clinical & Translational Sciences to serve as the core unit at University of Kentucky to facilitate community relationships between UK and the community for activities such as gaining community input, conducting community-based research, translation science and disseminating sustainable, evidence-based interventions. The CHWs are state-certified and Collaborative Institution Training Initiative (CITI) trained and have completed specialty training on essential community engagement and research skills. CHECK is directed by Dr. Lovoria Willams (professor, College of Nursing) and is coordinated by Destiny Cozart, MPH.
CHECK Community Health Workers can:
- Conduct informed consent
- Provide community outreach and study recruitment support
- Provide clinical support *please specify which UK clinic
- Support cultural mediation (navigating cultural nuances and ensure research is culturally sensitive)
- Support data collection
- Help navigate community members to address unmet social needs
- Support delivering health promotion interventions
- Support with training and/or onboarding a CHW
