Community Health Outreach Worker

About the role

Central City Concern’s Warm Welcome Program conducts direct street outreach to people experiencing homelessness. As a part of the multi-disciplinary Warm Welcome team, this Community Health Outreach Worker (CHOW) engages directly with people experiencing homelessness to facilitate engagement with healthcare, shelter resources, transitional and permanent housing, and other social services.

Responsibilities

• Engage directly with people experiencing homelessness to facilitate engagement with healthcare, shelter services, and other social services.
• Assess people’s needs in the field, identify programs, resources, and services that will best meet those needs, and remove obstacles to accessing those programs, resources, and services.
• Help people experiencing homelessness enter shelter and SRV (Shelter Resource and Voucher) sites; develop trusting relationships with their medical or behavioral health providers; and access food and material resources.
• Work with Warm Welcome Street Outreach team members to identify and engage with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in areas of East Portland.
• Provide direct outreach activities to link participants with services requested, including available healthcare and shelter services.
• Maintain a prioritized list of participants with whom we are working to establish connections to services.
• Maintain updated participant charts (including in CCC medical record when providing ongoing care coordination with other healthcare providers) that include notes on the effectiveness of contacts, interventions, and outcomes.
• Aid participants in engaging with internal and external system resources, including healthcare, shelter, and housing.
• Provide basic life skills education and survival resources to participants to support them in engaging in healthy behaviors and reducing barriers to outcomes and goals.
• Attend and participate in learning collaboratives and outreach team meetings, with the goal of identifying best practices and continuously improving the quality of outreach initiatives.
• Connect with Community Health Worker and Peer Support communities of practice.
• Complete and maintain accuracy of all required documentation inclusive of electronic documentation in a timely manner and in accordance with regulations and office standards.
• Provide transportation when necessary for patients in a CCC vehicle, taxi, or public transportation to and from program related appointments, interviews, hospitals/clinics, shelters, and other needed resources.
• Adhere to all state and federal privacy regulations, including HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2, and to CCC policies and agreements regarding confidentiality, privacy, and security.
• Support compliance with all privacy and security requirements pursuant to community partners’ and outside providers’ patient confidentiality agreements, including privacy and security requirements for EMR access.
• Attend all mandatory CCC and Multnomah County Homeless Services Division trainings in a timely manner.
• Follow CCC policies and procedures.
• Participate in compliance, quality assurance, and quality improvement activities as directed.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required.
• 1 year of experience including work in human services, community health, social services, volunteer work, and internships.
• Education and experience sufficient to succeed, carry out responsibilities, and demonstrate the skills and abilities as described above with experience working in community social service or healthcare environment.
• Current driver’s license, passed a DMV background check, and designated as an “acceptable” driver as outlined in Central City Concern’s Fleet Safety Policy.
• Excellent reading and comprehension skills.
• CPR certification prior to start.
• Understanding of causes of homelessness and poverty, medical and psychosocial sequelae of homelessness, and systems and processes used to help complex and medically vulnerable patients secure and maintain stable housing, healthcare, and other social services.
• Ability to adhere to Central City Concern’s drug-free workplace.
• Physical ability to bend, stoop, kneel, squat, twist, reach, pull, and occasionally lift up to 50 lbs.
• Pass a pre-employment drug screen, TB test, and DHS background check.
• Adherence to agency’s non-discrimination policies.
• Ability to effectively interact with co-workers and patients with diverse ethnic backgrounds, religious views, political affiliation, cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, and sexual orientations and treat individuals with respect and dignity.

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated ability to adhere to trauma-informed care principles and apply Motivational Interviewing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to relate to individuals and families of varied ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, and living circumstances.
• Ability to identify and share programs and services that best serve people experiencing homelessness in the community (shelter, transitional housing, withdrawal management, behavioral health treatment, and others).
• Demonstrated understanding of participant care processes.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing, including in participant charts.
• Ability to manage time and meet deadlines.
• Ability to develop relationships and work courteously and effectively communicate with the community partners, the general public, patients, medical personnel, law enforcement/emergency responders, and co-workers.
• Ability to provide effective de-escalation and care to a population of people with complex behavioral and physical health concerns.
• Ability to maintain accurate records and necessary paperwork.
• Ability to learn and apply training instruction provided.
• Ability to maintain strict standards of confidentiality regarding patient information.
• Ability to transport patients in a company vehicle.
• Ability to handle emergent situations with skill, confidence, and tact.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off plan which provides up to 4 weeks of PTO accrual in the first year.
• Affordable 403(b) Retirement Savings plan with competitive employer match.
• Comprehensive Medical, Vision, and Dental insurance coverage.
• Employer-paid Life, Short Term Disability, and Long Term Disability Insurance!
• Sabbatical Program offering extended time off at years 7, 14, and 21.