Community Health Workers
If you are newly injured or need help navigating your spinal cord injury, connect with a Community Health Worker.
We can help you to find resources, ask the right questions, and get connected to others in the spinal cord injury community.
What is a community health worker?
A Community Health Worker (CHW) is more than just a healthcare professional—they are a trusted voice within the community, deeply connected to its people and their unique needs. Acting as a vital bridge between individuals, healthcare, and social services, CHWs ensure that people can access the resources they need, while also enhancing the quality and cultural sensitivity of care. Through outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support, and advocacy, CHWs empower individuals and strengthen the entire community by increasing health knowledge and fostering self-sufficiency.
How does a community health worker help after a spinal cord injury?
After a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), social support becomes essential. Trauma often leaves deep imprints on the mind, heart, and body, making it difficult to trust again. A Community Health Worker (CHW), who shares the lived experience of SCI trauma, provides a unique form of emotional support through empathy, empowerment, trust, and care.
CHWs not only offer emotional support but also empower individuals to take charge of their own care. They help foster positive coping mechanisms and health-promoting behaviors, building skills and habits that allow people to thrive. With a CHW’s guidance, individuals are warmly introduced to the Oregon SCI community, where new friendships open doors to recreation, education, employment, stable housing, and meaningful peer connections.
As vital liaisons between individuals and healthcare systems, CHWs also connect people with crucial resources and services. Those supported by CHWs and the OSCI community are far less likely to develop serious secondary health issues that lead to rehospitalization. This personalized advocacy accelerates recovery during the challenging first year, helping individuals regain independence and set the foundation for a positive, high-quality life trajectory.
Who are OSCI community health workers?
An Oregon Spinal Cord Injury Connection (OSCI) community health worker is someone who is thriving after a spinal cord injury and is a trusted connection to the OSCI community. A thriving person has adopted positive coping mechanisms, has strong self-awareness, is grounded in self-acceptance, and is well-adjusted. They are engaged in their community and invite others to join. An OSCI community health worker accompanies newly-injured or those still adjusting, and uses their experience to empower others to achieve an active and full life. Community health workers who live with a spinal cord injury are knowledgeable about, and are experienced with secondary health conditions, community reintegration, peer support, coaching and mentorship.
How are CHWs and peer mentors the same but different?
- Same person: a peer mentor and CHW can be the same community member, namely a person with an SCI who is thriving after their injury and who is committed to helping others.
- Training is different: CHW training is 90 hours, is health focused, and completes continued education to remain certified, whereas most peer mentor training is 4-8 hours, is not necessarily health focused, and doesn’t require ongoing continued education or oversight.
- CHW services are coordinated and integrated with healthcare teams and social services case managers.
- CHWs must be certified by and registered with the Oregon Health Authority Traditional Health Worker Commission
- CHWs services are reimbursable by Medicaid, and can be self-employed or employed by a health system, clinic, or community-based organization.
- CHW are a central strategy adopted by Oregon Health Authority to achieve the triple aim (reduced costs, improved health outcomes, improved patient experience).
CHW Core Practices & Values
- strives to make life better for others who are living with spinal cord injury and their families.
- has a POSITIVE ATTITUDE with strong interpersonal skills
- has both an optimistic and realistic outlook
- has TIME to connect with others
- has KNOWLEDGE and WILLINGNESS TO LEARN more about important topics about living with spinal cord injury or caregiving
- is able to LISTEN WELL, be present, and share personal experiences and advice when appropriate
- has extensive LIVED EXPERIENCE with a spinal cord injury
How does the OSCI CHW Program work?
Qualified and interested individuals with SCI are recruited and trained as community health workers (CHW). A CHW will support the newly injured person by reinforcing their health education about nutrition and secondary health conditions through coaching as the person learns and perfects the necessary skills to live independently. CHWs also offer mentorship and emotional support, as well as connecting them to the OSCI support network and opportunities to recreate and engage in the community. The CHW raises awareness among primary care providers about the risks of secondary health conditions (SHC) and about healthy behaviors and resources to prevent those conditions.
Our Community Health Worker Program is a catalyst for health and empowerment. Oregon Spinal Cord Injury Connection (OSCI) was awarded a grant from Craig H Neilsen Foundation in 2018 and 2020 to develop the community health worker program for, and by, people living with spinal cord injury.
