The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is taking advantage of the opportunity to grow and strengthen Arkansas’ community health workforce after Gov. Sanders signed the Community Health Worker Act into law. The act crystalized the role of a community health worker in Arkansas as “an individual who is a trusted member of or has an unusually close understanding of the community that he or she is serving as a liaison, link, or intermediary between health services and the community.”
UAMS established its one-year community health worker training program at the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation in 2022. The passage and signing of the act only increased momentum. Last week, Ozarks at Large's Kyle Kellams invited Manuel Tejada, a community health worker, to the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio to discuss the new law's implications.
