Community Health Worker II - Chelsea Pediatrics

The Autism Spectrum Disorder Community Health Worker (ASD CHW) plays a critical role in helping families of young children with suspected or confirmed Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The ASD CHW serves as a key cultural navigator to help families understand ASD, attend appointments, and access resources at MGH and in the community. The ASD CHW will help alleviate cultural misunderstandings and strategizes on ways to bridge cultural gaps.

The ASD CHW participates in specific Community Health Work and Autism Spectrum Disorder training. While the ASD CHW is not a clinical position, it requires a good knowledge (ability to learn) of basic clinical concepts and understanding.

The ASD CHW works across the MGHfC pediatric sites. The primary supervision will be provided by the Manager of the Family and Early Childhood Programs Community Health Improvement and MGfC Administrative Director, Division of Pediatric Primary Care.

* Work with patient/families and providers to set goals for patient's care.

* Motivate patient/families to help them meet their health goals.

* Work with patient/families to identify and help patient to address barriers to care.

* Provide culturally sensitive services to patient/families from different cultures.

* Review and educate patient/families on making and preparing for diagnostic and/or treatment appointments.

* Assist patients in organizing records.

* Help the patient/families to put systems in place in their own environment to assist with the management of their care.

* Help to address any logistic barriers, scheduling complications, childcare needs, etc., that would prevent patient/families from showing up at their appointment.

* Accompany patient/families to appointments to provide support and advocacy as needed.

* Provide advocacy, education, and support in accessing community-based and hospital-based programs, including Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA).

* Initiate referrals to internal or external case management / system navigation / PHM services when other issues are identified (i.e. food insecurity, housing insecurity, domestic violence issues etc.)

* Work with medical interpreters, as needed.

* Work with primary care providers and Lurie Center providers to support ongoing care.

* Maintain regular communication with the patient's providers through clinical messages in the electronic health record, emails, phone calls and case review meetings.

* Document each patient encounter in detail. Track benchmarks of progress in care - including short term goal completion along the way.

* Produce mid-year and end of the year reports on program activities compiling data from databases and writing up case examples.

* Ability to work with children of all ages and their parents.

* Degree and professional background in relevant clinical discipline (bachelor's level preferred)

* Strong English writing and presentation skills required as well as preferred fluency in Spanish

* Ability to take a team approach

* Strong interpersonal, mediation and advocacy skills

* Strong organizational, strategic planning and record keeping skills

* Ability to work independently

* Ability to work with children of all ages and their parents.

* Degree and professional background in relevant clinical discipline (bachelor's level preferred)

* Strong English writing and presentation skills required as well as preferred fluency in Spanish

* Ability to take a team approach

* Strong interpersonal, mediation and advocacy skills

* Strong organizational, strategic planning and record keeping skills

* Ability to work independently

* Excellent communication skills

* Strong analytical skills

* Experience working in a multicultural environment

* Demonstrated networking and partnership-building skills including experience working with diverse populations

* Minimum two years of work experience. Previous work in community settings preferred.

* Demonstrated commitment to impacting the care of high-risk patients.

* Experience working as a patient navigator/community health worker preferred.

* Ability to work both independently and as a team member in multicultural settings.

* Detail-oriented with the ability to multi-task.

* Proficient in all Microsoft Applications, including MS Office and Excel.

* Strong time management, organizational and planning skills.

* Full time: 40 hours

This position is based in Chelsea Pediatrics at the Chelsea Health Center, but works across all pediatric primary care sites and reports to:

* Manager, Family and Early Childhood Program Manager

* Administrative Director, MGHfC Primary Care and Adolescent Medicine