Community health workers bridge the cultural gap

Just as our particular culture may define our relationship to family or our understanding of education, our culture also defines how we perceive health and illness, and consequently how we view treatment and prevention. Cultural beliefs and practices play a significant role in the health of individuals and communities.

Though we endeavor to improve the level of cultural competence in the health care system, it is unreasonable to expect providers to know everything about every culture. It’s important to have front-line staff — community health workers and foreign-language interpreters — who can serve as a bridge between patients’ cultures and languages and health care providers.

CHWs help ensure culturally appropriate health care

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, “Research studies show that community health workers improve health outcomes among minority and immigrant populations.” That’s because CHWs can deliver culturally appropriate health education, health promotion and supportive health services to patients who face linguistic and cultural barriers to accessing health care. Their functions vary across the organizations that employ them and the populations they serve.

In some cases, CHWs help patients obtain health coverage, make medical appointments and follow through on treatment recommendations. In other cases, CHWs provide outreach, referral and education about specific health issues such as diabetes or teenage pregnancy. Typically, they are bicultural and bilingual individuals whose effectiveness stems from their membership in and understanding of the communities they serve. CHWs serve as a crucial bridge between specific cultural groups and the health systems that serve them

Through our Critical Links grantmaking initiative, the Blue Cross Foundation advances the training, use and sustainable support of CHWs as a strategy for improving health care cultural competence, addressing Minnesota's health care work force shortage and reducing health disparities among the state’s racial, ethnic and foreign-born.