Returning patient? Access your patient portal.

Community Health Worker

Job Summary: The Community Health Worker will focus on Packard’s mission of working to reduce health disparities for our most vulnerable patients by connecting patients with community health and social services and educating, advocating for and supporting patients toward their healthcare goals.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Conduct regular assessment of patients’ Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) needs (including transportation, food, safety, neighborhood connectedness, housing, employment, etc.) and identify and eliminate barriers to addressing such needs
  • Assist with addressing high and/or inappropriate Emergency Room utilization by contacting identified users and encouraging and helping to coordinate PCP and/or specialist engagement
  • Address gaps of care by providing resources, education and support and/or connect patients to needed services
  • Contact patients regularly to assess ongoing needs and progress towards established health goals (Contact includes via in-person, by phone/text, in the community), working with the healthcare team
  • Ensure appropriate knowledge and use of health center services for both established and new patients
  • Engage and motivate clients to adhere to healthcare goals by assisting with scheduling of appointments, medication compliance, etc.
  • Engage with and coordinate services with community organizations to assist clients’ in reaching their goals
  • Establish and maintain positive and effective working relationships with community organizations and healthcare staff
  • Maintain detailed patient tracking report and other required documentation per Michigan Primary Care Association (MPCA)
  • Other duties as assigned

Requirements & Experience:

  • High school diploma or GED
  • 1+ year(s) of experience working with medically under-served populations
  • Ability to use windows-based computing systems and established online and paper-based systems to connect and enroll patients in needed services
  • A strong commitment to service, the mission of Packard Health and addressing the needs of vulnerable persons of the community
  • Excellent listening, verbal and written communication skills
  • Compassionate; patient; friendly, outgoing; culturally competent
  • Knowledge of community resources and ability to connect to such resources (social, health, and public agencies and services)
  • Pro-active, self-motivated, independent
  • Demonstrated ability to build effective rapport with patients and partner organizations
  • Experience in community work, ideally in a healthcare setting
  • Proficiency in and ability to navigate the healthcare system
  • Successful completion of the Michigan Community Health Network (MCHN)-identified paraprofessional CHW training program (post-hire into role)
  • Successful participation in regular supervisory and team meetings and completion of ongoing education/training requirements as identified by MCHN

Desired Qualifications:

  • Bilingual Spanish
  • Shared life experiences with client population
  • Post high school education

Performance Requirements: The majority of this work will be conducted within a healthcare setting. A portion of this work will be completed in the community.

Supervision Received: Supervised by Director of Community Health Initiatives

Send resume to: resume@packardhealth.org


This job description is a general description of job functions. It is not intended as an employment contract, nor is it intended to describe all duties someone in this position may perform. All employees of Packard Health are expected to perform tasks as assigned by Packard Health supervisory/management personnel, regardless of job title or routine job duties. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Packard Health will provide reasonable accommodations for individuals who can perform the essential functions of this job.