18-04-2025
UAMS and partners help to expand access for community health workers
SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is working to grow the health care workforce.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently established the Community Health Worker Act to give community health workers improved access to health and social resources.
Community health workers connect resources to the community, in an effort to bridge the gap between health care providers and the people they serve.
Through the act, certified CHWs may now receive compensation services from the Arkansas Medicaid program or a health benefit plan.
'What a community health worker does is the connection of resources and how they help the community members, whether it's connecting them to resources like applications for Medicaid, SNAP and WIC,' Carolina Vargas, a community health worker at UAMS said. 'How they help them navigate that health system, so for example, insurance coverage.'
In 2022, UAMS launched a one-year CHW training program. Since then, it has trained over 175 community health workers from around the state.
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