Across the Big Bend, we know what it means to look out for one another – checking on an elderly neighbor during hurricane season, bringing a meal to a friend after surgery or simply showing up when someone needs help. Some call it southern hospitality. I call it the spirit of community. That same spirit is the heart of one of Florida’s more effective – yet underutilized – health care solutions: Community Health Workers (CHWs).
Florida’s health care system is under real strain. Doctors and nurses are stretched thin. Costs are rising, our population is aging and, ultimately, these pressures will ripple through all of our lives.
When we look at our more rural communities, we risk strain at crisis proportions if we don’t address it now through proven solutions like CHWs.
Fortunately, there is hope. With Rural Transformation grant funding, Florida can significantly improve health care access and outcomes in our rural communities – benefitting everyone. To make this impact last, we must invest strategically in sustainable, people-centered solutions. That’s why strengthening the CHW workforce is essential, and we urge state leaders to support and fund these efforts.
CHWs are trusted members of the communities they serve. They understand local challenges because they live them. CHWs help neighbors navigate everyday barriers directly impacting health: nutrition and food insecurity, housing instability, transportation, health care access, language barriers, difficulty understanding medical instructions. When those needs go unmet, our communities pay the price. A missed follow-up appointment, a delayed screening or an unfilled prescription can quickly turn into an emergency room visit or hospital readmission, easily totaling $15,000+.
CHWs step in before a crisis, helping our neighbors stay on track, stay healthy and stay out of the hospital.
The impact is powerful. Patients feel supported instead of overwhelmed, health outcomes improve, health systems save money, and communities become stronger.
As a bonus, the CHW model provides employment opportunities where few exist – benefitting every taxpayer.
These professionals are so effective that the U.S. Bureau of Labor projects CHW employment will grow by 13 percent of the next decade, far outpacing average job growth.
This is a critical moment for Florida to invest in the CHW workforce. And with the Rural Transformation grant, it’s completely possible.
MHP Salud — a national leader with more than 40 years of experience developing, integrating and advancing CHW Programs — is prepared to equip healthcare systems, nonprofits and other agencies with nationally recognized training, tools and leadership to build and support the state’s CHW workforce.
But we can’t do it alone.
Strengthening Florida’s CHW workforce will take shared commitment from those who believe in research-backed solutions rooted in prevention. It will take investment, partnership and support.
This is an invitation to stand with us. To partner, to invest and to help the most vulnerable in our community receive quality health support, access and care through a proven solution: Community Health Workers. Together, we will build healthy communities throughout Florida. Visit https://mhpsalud.org/ to learn more and connect today.
By: Dr. Magaly “Maggie” Dante