Jefferson Health’s Community Health Worker
Training Academy
The CLAWS Foundation is the sole funder of Jefferson Health’s Community Health Training Academy. Community Health Workers provide a bridge for patients to providers – advocating for patients, providing education, representation, resource navigation and care coordination for underserved communities in Philadelphia where health inequities are most prevalent.
The Community Health Worker Academy is a really innovative, state-of-the-art, 13-month training and workforce development program. We provide the training, but we also employ folks full-time with full-time benefits. And they are also getting work experience — community health work — as well as the supervision required to get their community health worker certification. The CLAWS Foundation is the sole funder for this program.
– Christine James, Director
We have folks that have grown up in certain parts of the city that often are marginalized and have a lot of health equity issues. And the community health workers are both recruited from that community but also placed in maybe a primary care community site in that area so that they’re working directly with the community members there.
– Christine James, Director
I love helping people. … The community health worker program really teaches the student confidence in advocating for the patients. Because we are the bridge for the patients to the providers.
– Nurul Fitria, Community Health Worker
You’re dealing with people from all over, it could be at the hospital, it could be at their primary care, it could be out in the community. And I feel as though, with me, I have the heart for it because I care for people. I love people… I want to thank the CLAWS Foundation for even taking a chance on me.
– Joseph Pita, Community Health Worker