Monticello, AR (April 30th, 2024) - Mary Ashley Woods, Community Health Worker (CHW) was recently awarded the 2024 Mrs. Easter Walker Community Health Worker Professional Development Scholarship granted by the Arkansas Community Health Worker Association (ARCHWA).
This award allowed Mary Ashley to attend the ARCHWA Summit in Little Rock where she was able to gather needed resources and learn more ways to help her patients.
Mary Ashley is from Portland, AR and has been with Mainline Health since April 2022. She says wouldn’t change jobs for the world, and she truly loves being able to serve the Ashley County area, to give back and to support those who need it. Mary Ashley states, “This is truly my calling. Being able to cover the county in which I grew up makes my job more meaningful.”
The recipient of the Mrs. Easter Walker CHW Professional Development Award is selected based on the following criteria:
- Currently working as a CHW and demonstrates financial need
- Operates as an independent CHW with limited operational budget for professional development and/or operates as a CHW within an agency or institution with limited budget for professional development
- Must be an Arkansas resident
ARCHWA defines a Community Health Worker (CHW) is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has a strong understanding of the community served. This trusting relationship helps the CHW to act as a connector between health and social services and the community. A CHW helps to increase access to care and to improve the quality of medical and social services and cultural competence (i.e., understanding the cultural differences, values, and beliefs of people in need) during service delivery. Community Health Worker is an umbrella term and CHWs can go by many different names including peer educator, patient navigator, community outreach specialist, health advocate, HIV Peer Counselor, case work aide, health promoter, etc.
To learn more about the Arkansas Community Health Worker Association, visit https://www.archwa.org/.