COLUMBIA, Md.—Howard County General Hospital will offer community health worker training and certification from Aug. 29 to Dec. 9. Community health workers conduct outreach for medical personnel or health care organizations to implement programs in the community that promote, maintain and improve individual and community health. In addition, they encourage individuals to adopt healthy behaviors by increasing their health knowledge and self-sufficiency.

The community health worker training, accredited by the Maryland Department of Health, consists of over 100 hours of online and virtual real-time sessions as well as in-person modules completed within 14 weeks. This includes:

• Weekly modules with prerecorded learning which offers schedule flexibility
• Weekly discussion board posts online
• Learning activities via live video
• 40-hour in-person practicum at Howard County General Hospital supervised by hospital community health workers

Howard County General Hospital’s award-winning Community Care Team leads the program. The training covers advocacy and community capacity building, communication and cultural competency, ethics and confidentiality issues, local resources and system navigation, care coordination, skills to promote health, outreach methods and strategies as well as public health concepts and health literacy.

Participants must be 18 years old or older and have earned a high school or GED diploma. No prior health care training is required. The training program follows the Johns Hopkins Health System vaccine policy requiring all learners to show proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 and the flu prior to the first day of class.

Registration closes once the cohort is full and no later than Aug. 15. To learn more or register, visit chwtraining.events.hcgh.hopkinsmedicine.org or email [email protected].

A limited number of partial scholarships are available through a donation from the Biegel family. Scholarship applications can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/r/HX2TYY8 and are due by July 31.

About Howard County General Hospital
Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine is a not-for-profit health care provider with 225 licensed beds located in Columbia, Maryland. A comprehensive, acute-care medical center, Howard County General offers a full range of services, from neonatal care and oncology to outpatient treatment and critical care.

The hospital has a professional staff of more than 1,000 physicians and allied health professionals, representing 118 specialties and subspecialties and a workforce of nearly 1,800 employees.