Community Health Worker Profile Project

This month, Health Impact Ohio participated in Health Professions Week as a member of the 2022 Alliance Network. We are proud to share that we had the unique opportunity to highlight the Community Health Worker (CHW) profession in this nationwide collaboration with other healthcare and education organizations.

Health Professions Week showcased a variety of resources surrounding the various healthcare professions, including YouTube playlists, social media posts, online resources, interactive games, live events and more. Health Impact Ohio curated a collection of resources and content to contribute to the offerings showcased on the Health Professions Week resource page and social media outlets. We are thrilled to be able to share these resources with the community and further highlight the CHW profession.

Ohio is in the top quartile of states for high cardiovascular disease (CVD) event rates (i.e. combined stroke and heart attacks). Ohio has a high adult prevalence of 2 key modifiable CVD risk factors: hypertension (35%) and smoking (21%). A third key modifiable CVD risk factor is cholesterol medication taking in those at elevated cardiovascular risk. It is estimated that 50% of people take cholesterol medications as prescribed. Improving blood pressure (BP) control, cholesterol medication taking, and smoking cessation should strongly improve CVD events in Ohio.

50 diverse primary care practices across the state are participating in the Heart Healthy Ohio Initiative (HHOI) focused on hypertension management, cholesterol medication taking, and smoking cessation. As part of this project, we are partnered with payers, public health agencies, and other stakeholders with the goal of aligning efforts to improve cardiovascular health outcomes. As we learn successful strategies around cardiovascular health improvements, we will work to disseminate findings throughout Ohio.

Opportunity to Participate in Research and Share Your Story