This position is a part of an integrated care team. The primary goal of the Maternal Community Health Worker (MCHW) is to increase client awareness and access to healthcare to improve the overall quality of life primarily for Black and low-income mothers and their babies in the Lancaster region. The MCHW will work with clients through in-home visitation and on-site family-centered meetings. The MCHW will work closely with referral agencies, medical providers, primary care teams, and other agencies to improve client care and social, physical, and mental health outcomes. The MCHW will help to bridge conversations with clients and remove barriers that prevent them from accessing health and social services. This position requires the ability to work within a team to provide timely, appropriate, female-centered care equitably. Duties include but are not limited to assessing client social determinants of health (SDOH) needs with a focus on healthcare access and affordability, providing complex case management and care coordination, providing options- based counseling and health education, maintaining case files and notes accurately, developing relationships with area agencies and primary care physicians, reporting on client progress and success, and communicating these to appropriate team members.
Scope of Duties:
1. Demonstrate knowledge and professionalism while interacting with clients, team members, partner agencies, and the greater community.
2. Meet with clients regularly in the setting where they live to evaluate their needs, and their progress on goals, and provide them with referrals, navigation assistance, and interventions as necessary. Develop trusting relationships with clients.
3. Provide care coordination of physical and behavioral health services to clients. Develop a person-centered plan for clients within 15 days of intake and ensure clients are connected to a primary care physician within 30 days of intake.
4. Promote postpartum health, and screen for postpartum depression.
5. Advocate for clients to ensure they are connected to services and assist clients in applying for services and navigating social and healthcare resources.
6. Ensure that families receive education and support, especially those in challenging situations, with an emphasis on healthy parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being.
7. Provide family planning guidance which includes access to counseling for available contraceptive options, childbirth-spacing education, and support to attain contraceptives if requested.
8. Ensure all case files, visit reports, and notes related to the program are maintained and current.
9. Attend and participate in staff meetings and follow directives accurately.
10. Assist with various duties such as developing reports and keeping statistics.
11. Develop working relationships with community resources and healthcare/insurance providers to increase client referral options and provide ongoing education to clients.
12. While meeting with clients, assess and track their progress to ensure their person-centered plan addresses all health and social needs.
13. Support child well visits including scheduling and promote follow-up care. Provide transportation as needed.
14. Enhance communication between all supports i.e. case managers, physicians, peers, and family in order to note changes in physical and behavioral health. Help clients build their confidence in interacting with providers, increasing their sense of self-efficacy.
15. Assist clients with following policies and guidelines to maintain program compliance.
16. Attend community-based meetings and provide reports when requested.
17. Conduct educational sessions with groups of mothers in our maternity office. 18. Perform logistical activities such as picking up donations and keeping the donation space organized in the maternity office.
19. Act as liaison for Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania by demonstrating a positive and professional image toward clients and agency representatives.
20. Clock in and out daily and ensure that correct working hours are submitted to the supervisor.
21. In situations where policy is questioned or in case of emergency, the supervisor is to be contacted.
22. Perform other duties as needed.
Hard Skills:
1. Advocacy: Connect Black and low-income families to essential health and social services, while educating systems and providers on the structural barriers these communities face in accessing equitable maternal and early childhood care.
2. Cultural Competency: Understand the cultural, historical, and systemic contexts that shape the healthcare experiences of Black and low-income families, especially during pregnancy, birth, and early parenting.
3. Health Literacy: Support clients in understanding and applying health information by using clear, accessible language and culturally relevant education tailored to the needs of Black and low-income communities.
4. Strength-Based Interpersonal Skills / Motivational Interviewing: Use trauma-informed, respectful communication to build trust and empower Black and low-income parents by honoring their lived experiences and focusing on their strengths.
5. Relational Social Skills: Build authentic, trusting relationships with families to help identify needs, overcome barriers to care, and support long-term engagement, particularly for those affected by poverty and systemic racism.
6. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Actively work to reduce disparities by applying an equity lens to all services, ensuring that the voices and needs of Black and low-income families are prioritized in maternal and child health programs.
7. Strength-Based Approach: Approach every interaction from a healing-informed, strengths- based perspective that uplifts the resilience, resourcefulness, and potential of Black and low- income families.
ADA Essential Functions:
1. Regularly required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, talk, hear, and smell.
2. Regularly lift and move up to 25 lbs.
3. Ability to see clearly at 20 inches or less.
4. Ability to identify and/or distinguish colors.
5. Ability to observe an area that can be seen up and down or to the left and right while remaining fixed on a given point.
Credentials/Abilities:
MCHWs must possess, or be working towards obtaining, either a bachelor's or master’s degree in social work or a health-related field and 3-5 years combined experience in a similar social service setting, as well as a willingness to obtain the Community Health Worker certification when available. Bilingual preferred. FBI fingerprints, Pennsylvania State Police, and Child Abuse clearances are required annually. A driver's license is required; the employee will travel daily to conduct client in-home visitation. The employee having in-home experience is preferred and must possess strong clinical skills and the ability to make immediate decisions when faced with a crisis or unusual situation. Lived experience is ideal. Must have a working knowledge of computer software, specifically Microsoft Office; including Outlook, Excel, and Word, as well as effective written and verbal communication skills.
Scope of Duties:
1. Demonstrate knowledge and professionalism while interacting with clients, team members, partner agencies, and the greater community.
2. Meet with clients regularly in the setting where they live to evaluate their needs, and their progress on goals, and provide them with referrals, navigation assistance, and interventions as necessary. Develop trusting relationships with clients.
3. Provide care coordination of physical and behavioral health services to clients. Develop a person-centered plan for clients within 15 days of intake and ensure clients are connected to a primary care physician within 30 days of intake.
4. Promote postpartum health, and screen for postpartum depression.
5. Advocate for clients to ensure they are connected to services and assist clients in applying for services and navigating social and healthcare resources.
6. Ensure that families receive education and support, especially those in challenging situations, with an emphasis on healthy parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being.
7. Provide family planning guidance which includes access to counseling for available contraceptive options, childbirth-spacing education, and support to attain contraceptives if requested.
8. Ensure all case files, visit reports, and notes related to the program are maintained and current.
9. Attend and participate in staff meetings and follow directives accurately.
10. Assist with various duties such as developing reports and keeping statistics.
11. Develop working relationships with community resources and healthcare/insurance providers to increase client referral options and provide ongoing education to clients.
12. While meeting with clients, assess and track their progress to ensure their person-centered plan addresses all health and social needs.
13. Support child well visits including scheduling and promote follow-up care. Provide transportation as needed.
14. Enhance communication between all supports i.e. case managers, physicians, peers, and family in order to note changes in physical and behavioral health. Help clients build their confidence in interacting with providers, increasing their sense of self-efficacy.
15. Assist clients with following policies and guidelines to maintain program compliance.
16. Attend community-based meetings and provide reports when requested.
17. Conduct educational sessions with groups of mothers in our maternity office. 18. Perform logistical activities such as picking up donations and keeping the donation space organized in the maternity office.
19. Act as liaison for Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania by demonstrating a positive and professional image toward clients and agency representatives.
20. Clock in and out daily and ensure that correct working hours are submitted to the supervisor.
21. In situations where policy is questioned or in case of emergency, the supervisor is to be contacted.
22. Perform other duties as needed.
Hard Skills:
1. Advocacy: Connect Black and low-income families to essential health and social services, while educating systems and providers on the structural barriers these communities face in accessing equitable maternal and early childhood care.
2. Cultural Competency: Understand the cultural, historical, and systemic contexts that shape the healthcare experiences of Black and low-income families, especially during pregnancy, birth, and early parenting.
3. Health Literacy: Support clients in understanding and applying health information by using clear, accessible language and culturally relevant education tailored to the needs of Black and low-income communities.
4. Strength-Based Interpersonal Skills / Motivational Interviewing: Use trauma-informed, respectful communication to build trust and empower Black and low-income parents by honoring their lived experiences and focusing on their strengths.
5. Relational Social Skills: Build authentic, trusting relationships with families to help identify needs, overcome barriers to care, and support long-term engagement, particularly for those affected by poverty and systemic racism.
6. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Actively work to reduce disparities by applying an equity lens to all services, ensuring that the voices and needs of Black and low-income families are prioritized in maternal and child health programs.
7. Strength-Based Approach: Approach every interaction from a healing-informed, strengths- based perspective that uplifts the resilience, resourcefulness, and potential of Black and low- income families.
ADA Essential Functions:
1. Regularly required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, talk, hear, and smell.
2. Regularly lift and move up to 25 lbs.
3. Ability to see clearly at 20 inches or less.
4. Ability to identify and/or distinguish colors.
5. Ability to observe an area that can be seen up and down or to the left and right while remaining fixed on a given point.
Credentials/Abilities:
MCHWs must possess, or be working towards obtaining, either a bachelor's or master’s degree in social work or a health-related field and 3-5 years combined experience in a similar social service setting, as well as a willingness to obtain the Community Health Worker certification when available. Bilingual preferred. FBI fingerprints, Pennsylvania State Police, and Child Abuse clearances are required annually. A driver's license is required; the employee will travel daily to conduct client in-home visitation. The employee having in-home experience is preferred and must possess strong clinical skills and the ability to make immediate decisions when faced with a crisis or unusual situation. Lived experience is ideal. Must have a working knowledge of computer software, specifically Microsoft Office; including Outlook, Excel, and Word, as well as effective written and verbal communication skills.