Community Health Workers and Peers are Essential to Counties’ COVID-19 Response - RWJF Alignment
Skip to main content
Home
  • About Alignment
    • What Is Cross-Sector Alignment?
    • RWJF’s Approach
    • Glossary
  • Our Work
    • About RWJF
    • Related Programs
    • Aligning Systems for Health
    • Aligning in Crisis
  • From the Field
    • Resource Library
  • Get Involved
    • Virtual Event Series
    • Related Events
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
Back to ResourcesBack to Resources
Community Health Workers and Peers are Essential to Counties’ COVID-19 Response
Publication

Community Health Workers and Peers are Essential to Counties’ COVID-19 Response

View Publication

This blog features how community care workers and peers from Whole Person Care pilots in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, and Ventura, California, are helping those most vulnerable to COVID-19 stay healthy and safe.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, these essential workers have stepped up to a new challenge, working on the frontlines of the emergency response to care for those most vulnerable to the virus and linking members of the community to critical health and social services. Whether making food deliveries in the field, coordinating services at shelter-in-place sites, or using telehealth to improve care transitions, the contributions of CHWs and peers have been vital.

In California, community health workers and peers are an essential part of Whole Person Care, a five-year program under California’s Section 1115 Medicaid waiver. There are 25 Whole Person Care pilots operating across the state — regional coalitions of public healthcare systems, behavioral health providers, Medicaid managed care plans, and social service organizations are working together to improve care for people with complex health and social needs.

The review how community health workers and peers are:

  • Providing individualized services to support shelter-in-place
  • Caring for homeless populations at isolation/quarantine sites and on the streets
  • Supporting post-hospital discharges for vulnerable patients
  • Essential to the COVID-19 response in California

Components of Alignment

Shared Purpose Icon Shared Purpose

Author Organization

National Center for Complex Care & Social Needs

Publication Date

2021

Topic Area

Complex Care
COVID-19
Health Care
Medicaid
Public Health
Social Needs
Publication

A Foundation For Health And Well-Being: Meaningful Employment

This publication explores how Employment and Community First Choices, a program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, created and paid for by TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program, helps participants work and live independently.

Webinar

Aligning in Crisis: Strategies and Tools to Leverage Federal Funding

On 9/14, experts from Aligning in Crisis, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will discussed how, if deployed strategically and effectively, federal funds can advance equity, shift power to the community, and set the stage for positive, long-term change.

Publication

Patients Lift Their Voices To Advance Maternal Health

This publication compiles insights from EleVATE, a program that offers group-based prenatal care with a curriculum designed by and for Black women. EleVATE explores whether changing the way clinicians interact with patients can, in itself, improve outcomes and equity.

  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
©2023RWJF