We spoke with Tyra Jones from the SIU School of Medicine about the importance of community health workers (CHWs). Tyra shares uplifting, poignant, and sometimes funny stories about working with patients and educating with empathy. Then we get into the ways health centers can improve CHW training programs, and how CHWs provide one-on-one help for patients who get a new diagnosis and have a lot of questions. We end with a detour into wellness, personality tests, and even how tv show’s like “Friends” all tie into winning strategies to improve community health care.

1:00-24:59 - Stories from the field
25:00-31:00 - "Friends" and personality tests
31:30-37:00 - Strategies to improve community health training

Resources
CHW Training Program - https://www.siumed.edu/cpd/community-health-worker-echo
Office of Community Care - https://www.siumed.edu/communitycare