Community Health Workers
Community Health Workers promote health within a community by assisting individuals to adopt healthy behaviors. Serve as an advocate for the health needs of individuals by assisting community residents in effectively communicating with healthcare providers or social service agencies. Act as liaison or advocate and implement programs that promote, maintain, and improve individual and overall community health. May deliver health-related preventive services such as blood pressure, glaucoma, and hearing screenings. May collect data to help identify community health needs.
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Job description
Community Health Workers assist individuals and communities to adopt healthy behaviors. Conduct outreach for medical personnel or health organizations to implement programs in the community that promote, maintain, and improve individual and community health. May provide information on available resources, provide social support and informal counseling, advocate for individuals and community health needs, and provide services such as first aid and blood pressure screening. May collect data to help identify community health needs.
- Perform basic diagnostic procedures, such as blood pressure screening, breast cancer screening, or communicable disease screening.
- Maintain updated client records with plans, notes, appropriate forms, or related information.
- Advise clients or community groups on issues related to diagnostic screenings, such as breast cancer screening, pap smears, glaucoma tests, or diabetes screenings.
- Advise clients or community groups on issues related to risk or prevention of conditions, such as lead poisoning, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), prenatal substance abuse, or domestic violence.
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Salary
Community Health Workers with little to no experience tend to make between $26070 and $32280 while the more experienced ones can earn over $51650 per year.
Top 5 paying states | Hourly | Annual |
---|---|---|
DC | $30 | $61,770 |
NJ | $25 | $51,560 |
MD | $24 | $50,160 |
CA | $24 | $49,260 |
NH | $24 | $49,050 |
One of the easiest ways to increase your salary as a Community Health Worker is to move to a higher paying state like DC. Right now, the highest paying states for Community Health Workers are DC, NJ, MD, CA and NH.
However, a higher pay at DC doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the living expenses at DC might be twice as high than where you are currently at now.
Three other factors that can increase your salary as a Community Health Worker is the degree you hold, the industry you work in, and lastly the company you work for.
Requirements
We asked other Community Health Workers what degree they had when they got the job and most of them said they had a Bachelor’s Degree followed by an Associate’s Degree.
Other than that, we also asked them what did they major in and here are the most popular majors that came up.
Health Communication |
Health and Wellness, General |
Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling |
Public Health, General |
Public Health Education and Promotion |
Pros and Cons
Here are some of the pros and cons of being a Community Health Worker.
PROS |
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Suitable for people who likes to help and teach others |
Suitable for people who values relationships between co-workers and customers and wants to work in a friendly non-competitive environment |
This career is perfect for people who love to work indoors. |
One of the fastest growing careers |
CONS |
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Not suitable for people who likes practical and hands-on work |
Salary is below average |
It is hard to get into this career. A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for this career. |
What is the job like
74% of Community Health Workers said they were satisfied with their job and 84% said they feel like their job is making other people’s lives better.
Is this right for me
You can read more about these career personality types here.
People who are suitable for this job tends to like working with, communicating with, and teaching people. They like helping or providing service to others..
They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
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