This year, the Steve Shore Community Catalyst award goes to the University of Vermont Extension's Bridges to Health Program
The University of Vermont Extension Bridges to Health Program
The University of Vermont Extension’s Bridges to Health Community Health Worker (CHW) Program is a health outreach program for migrant farmworkers in Vermont. Utilizing a care coordination model carried out by six regional Migrant Health Promoters, the program empowers farmworkers to make timely health decisions.
In addition to offering care coordination to migrant farmworkers in need of health care services, Bridges to Health creates capacity-building opportunities for local health entities to implement linguistically and culturally appropriate services. Their bilingual community health workers assist migrant agricultural workers and accompany workers through the complexity and difficulty of the healthcare system.
They work seamlessly with local health entities to ensure continuity of care, transportation to appointments, language access throughout all points of care, and support with wrap-around services. Due to the skilled accompaniment and support of Bridges to Health’s CHWs, hospitals and health clinics in Vermont have a greater understanding of the unique challenges these workers face and are better equipped with the knowledge of how to help them access care.
