By Tamela Milan AAS

Maternal and Child Health Outreach

Westside Healthy Start Consortia Chair
NHSA Advisory Board Member
Ever Thrive Board of Directors

 Children

under DCFS Custody

Parental

support

Recovery
High

risk infant enrolled in Early Childhood

Research Program and Development (ECRIP
@UIC)

 Anger

Management

Henry

Horner Public Housing resident

Educational

milestone

 Family

reunited

Transitioned

Townhome

Completed
Recovery

from Public Housing into

college

 First

Real Job with UIC ECRIP Program

Interim

Start

Consortia Chair for Chicago Healthy

Attended

National Healthy Start Conference

 What

is a consumer?

What

is a consortium?

1st

consumer nominated and selected to the

National Healthy Start Board of Directors.

As a CHW I am a trusted member

of the community I serve.
A link between health/social
services and the community to
help provide access to services
and resources. (The Hook Up)
I Have Been A CHW off and on for
over 15 years and I have enjoyed
serving every bit of it.
It helps that I am knowledgeable
of the care that is offered within
the community.

 Providing
Impact
The

inspirational testimony.

of Healthy Start and other services.

transition from a program participant to

HS employee, serving on Board of Directors
(national and state agencies).

 Get

Involved & Motivate Others!

Stay

relevant with advocacy work.

Stay

connected!

 There

is a belief, I believe that is in the

community, which is what you dont know
wont hurt you! and we as informed
members of the community know that is not
so. There is no such thing not even in the
law that you are not responsible because you
dont know. So then you are hurt! We hope
to continue to inform those who we work,
support and advocate for that what you
dont know will hurt you. We must learn to
stand for and with those who do not yet
understand the importance of the depravity
that is occurring in our neighborhoods.

 What

I have learned is that the best way to

work together is to learn to respect the
people that you work with, around and for.
I have been on both sides of the fence now
and I see the difficulty that exists in trying to
co-exist when there can be a lack of
understanding in how everyone plays a role
in the process especially the patients.

In addition, CHWs educate health care

providers and administrators about the
communitys health needs and the cultural
relevancy of interventions by helping these
providers and the managers of health care
systems to build their cultural competence
and strengthen communication skills.3,5

Using their unique position,

skills, and an expanded
knowledge base, CHWs can
help reduce system costs for
health care by linking
patients to community
resources and helping
patients avoid unnecessary
hospitalizations and other
forms of more expensive
care as they help improve
outcomes for community
members.3,4