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VHA PROGRAM - FOR HEALTH AND HEALTH PROMOTION
PROFESSIONALS
Program Description and Mission
VHA Roles and Responsibilities
VHA Recruitment, Training and Support
Our Staff
Success Stories and Awards
Program Description and Mission
Established in 2001, Cambridge Health Alliance's Volunteer Health
Advisor (VHA) Program is operated by the Community Affairs Department.
The program is a volunteer-driven, multicultural, and multilingual
health education and outreach initiative, designed to create an
effective and cost efficient outreach network to improve community
health status.
The VHA peer counseling/peer helper model is an evidence-based
strategy for providing education and support for health behavior
change. Our trained VHAs are able to reach community members often
inaccessible to paid staff by providing peer-based support, health
education, and health promotion activities where the volunteers
live, work, and go to church.
The mission of the VHA program is to improve community health by
working collaboratively with faith-based and community-based organizations
to recruit, train and support a sustainable volunteer workforce
that provides culturally and linguistically appropriate health education
and outreach to underserved and hard-to-reach populations.
VHA Roles and Responsibilities
The VHAs act as a bridge between the community and Cambridge Health
Alliance (CHA). Working within their own communities in multiple
settings, VHAs:
- Provide basic health education in disease prevention and wellness;
- Organize health education forums and screening events;
- Run support groups for individuals with chronic diseases;
- Raise community awareness about the availability of free and
low-cost health care coverage; and
- Assist community members in accessing health care.
VHAs serve communities speaking four main languages:
- Haitian-Creole
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- English
VHAs interested in becoming 'specialists' can choose to receive
additional training in specific health areas, so they can conduct
more in-depth education in their community on these issues. Specialists
often have clinical backgrounds and were healthcare professionals
in their country of origin. VHA specialists currently work in one
or more of the following health areas:
- Nutrition and wellness
- Breast health
- Research
- Diabetes
VHA Recruitment, Training and Support
CHA Program Coordinators first identify appropriate faith-based
and community-based organizations from which volunteers can be recruited.
They work with the leadership of these organizations to promote
the VHA program, identify health issues of concern to organization
members, and invite individual members to participate in the program.
Prospective VHAs attend a 20-hour health education training facilitated
by CHA outreach and clinical staff in a culturally and linguistically
appropriate format. The curriculum includes workshops on topics
such as:
- General health issues
- Health access and outreach
- Empowerment and communication skills
- Public health
- Access to primary care and health insurance
- Basic health screening (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose,
and weights and heights)
After this initial training, the Program Coordinators provide motivation
and support to VHAs to sustain their work to improve the health
of their communities.
Program Coordinators also provide regular continuing education
sessions for all VHAs, as well as training VHA specialists in specific
health areas.
A VHA Advisory Board also exists to support VHA activities. The
board is made up of members representing community organizations,
churches, local businesses, and social service agencies from all
four linguistic communities. In addition, VHAs representing each
of the 4 language groups are members.
Our Staff
Cambridge Health Alliance employs a Program Coordinator for each
of the VHA language or groups, as well as a Coordinator for the
Breast Health Program. Each Coordinator is bilingual and bicultural
with experience in community-based outreach and health education,
and is certified as a community health educator. The Coordinators
work with the VHA Program Supervisor to provide a standard structure
across the VHA groups and to document and evaluate the work of each
group.
CHA currently has five Program Coordinators, each focusing on a
different language group or specialty area: Haitian-speaking communities,
Portuguese-speaking communities, Spanish-speaking communities, English-speaking
communities, and Breast Health. Each Program Coordinator is tasked
with supporting his/her group, fostering a supportive group dynamic,
providing ongoing training on health-related topics and monitoring
the program's progress.
Specific responsibilities of CHA's Program Coordinators include:
- Establishing and maintaining relationships with local faith-based
and community-based organizations
- Recruiting new VHAs
- Coordinating and facilitating the orientation training for new
VHAs
- Providing motivation and support to sustain their VHA team's
work to improve the health of their communities
- Offering individual assistance to VHAs in planning, organizing,
and executing events and health presentations
- Assisting VHAs in identifying appropriate venues for activities
- Coordinating and facilitating monthly continuing education sessions
for each language group
Success Stories and Awards
Since its inception, the program has trained over 260 VHAs who collectively
speak 16 different languages and represent the local Haitian, Brazilian,
Latino, South Asian, and African-American communities in Cambridge,
Somerville, Everett, Malden, and surrounding areas.
In 2005, VHA Program staff and volunteers organized or participated
in 134 events in the community, reaching over 19,000 people and
collaborating with 48 community based organizations (CBOs), including
34 churches, in their outreach activities.
The VHA program was awarded a National Association of Public Hospital's
(NAPH) Safety Net Award in 2004 for its effectiveness in linking
community members with health care services, and a 2005 NOVA Award
by the American Hospital Association as an innovative and collaborative
program to improve community health status.
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