Job Role Summary

This position is responsible for promoting the Indianapolis Healthy Start program, providing outreach services & providing home visitation services with selected families. Responsible for assisting women into early prenatal care, promoting the birth of a healthy baby, encouraging preventive child health care, improving and enhancing parenting skills, discouraging unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, alcohol, and drug abuse, and decreases the incidence of child abuse and neglect. Responsibilities include serving as a link between the family & the community by helping the family access health & social services that exist in the community to meet their needs. A High School diploma or equivalent required. Valid Indiana driver's license and access to own transportation required for in county travel.

Associated Job Duties

• Utilize creative ideas of how to reach out into the community to make contact with underserved populations in the community to recruit clients for the IHS
• Identify and enroll women in need early in their pregnancy to prevent poor pregnancy
• Distribute informational flyers/posters within the community at locations where they are the most likely to be seen, as well as provide information to local newspapers, county newspapers, and radio stations
• Develop an active role in the IHS Catchment area, and other locations as directed by the Community Engagement Coordinator. Become active member in the community by attending meetings (neighborhood association, block club public housing tenants’ association, and social services organization)
• Contact and provide program information to neighborhood entities
• Responsible for establishing trusting relationships with program participants and their families while providing general support and encouragement
• Provide on-going follow up, basic motivational interviewing and goal setting with program participants/families
• Observe and promote age-appropriate developmental activities that include support, encouragement and guidance until child’s second birthday
• Conduct IC home visitations to provide health education using culturally appropriate terms and concepts
• Record all outreach efforts and client encounters in the Healthy Start database (training provided) within a 24-hour deadline
• Responsible for providing consistent communication to the Community Engagement Coordinator to evaluate program participants/family status, ensuring that provided information, and submission of weekly reports clearly describes progress with community outreach
• Help women overcome barriers that keep them from getting the health care they and their children need such as: transportation, companionship, childcare, appointment convenience, time management, consistency, accountability, and responsibility
• Assist families in assessing needed social services & provide referrals to those services such as: WIC, Medicaid, food stamps, TANF, etc which may require helping clients fill out proper paperwork
• Maintains confidentiality of all client records and information as specified by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
• Trained at the appropriate (NIMS) and (ICS) level

Qualifications

• High school graduate or equivalent, demonstrates literacy skills
• History of receiving and maintaining employment
• Certified Community Health Worker or ability to become certified within 6 months
• Providing informal counseling, support and follow up

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Lives within target community, and has some knowledge of existing community resources
• Has a strong desire to help others & a history of being a natural helper/teacher
• Communicates and relates well with others & assertive nature to assume and an advocacy role for clients
• Demonstrates the ability to work well with at-risk individuals in their homes
• Understand community served and community connectedness
• Basic computer skills; data entry a plus

Working Environment

• Frequent local travel to perform home visits and other areas in the community
• Typical office environment