What is the Community HealthCorps of Northern California?
The Alliance for Rural Community Health (ARCH) hosts an Americorps program called the Community HealthCorps of Northern California. As a member of the Community HealthCorps team you will participate in community service and gain skills in community health education and outreach. Through projects like job shadowing and monthly team days, HealthCorps opens doors for personal and professional development while learning an ethic of community service. Our goal is to provide you with opportunities to engage with a rural community and foster your individual interests and professional goals.
Community HealthCorps is a product of a strong partnership between the Corporation for National and Community Service, the National Association of Community Health Center, ARCH, Redwood Community Health Coalition (RCHC), and community health centers throughout Northern California.
Cleaning Up Gibson Creek in Ukiah on "Make a Difference Day," October 2008
A Day in the Life of a HealthCorps Member
Watch as Sarah Weller and Campbell Grant spend the day promoting community health in Potter Valley.
Join Our Team - What are we looking for?
We are looking for individuals who are seeking a challenge and want to live in beautiful Northern California. Do you want to know what it's like to live in a rural community? Are you interested in learning about the health center setting inside/out? Are you interested in working as a case manager, heath educator, patient navigator? Our goal is to provide you with opportunities to grow and learn from the people and community around you. We are particularly interested in bicultural applicants with Spanish-language proficiency.
The quaint village of Mendocino
Who is eligible?
Anyone who is:
A US citizen, US national, or a lawful permanent resident alien of the US (students in the US on a visa are not eligible)
At least 17 years old
Have a high school diploma or a GED
What are the stipend and benefits of the position?
Full-time placement:
In exchange for a minimum of 1,700 hours of service, at an average of forty hours a week, a living allowance of $11,800 is paid in bi-monthly installments. On successful completion of service, Members receive an education award totaling $5,350. Members will also receive health insurance benefits, comprehensive child care benefits, student loan deferment, health-specific training, and unique opportunities for personal and professional development.
What positions are available?
We have several openings for HealthCorps Members each program year, including new sites in Sonoma County for 2010-11. Our program begins in September 2010 and runs through July 2011. Members serve in health centers throughout Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties. Current positions are available at our health centers in the following locations: Ukiah, Boonville, Mendocino, Willits, Laytonville, Potter Valley, Pt. Arena, Gualala, Guerneville, Occidental, Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, and Sonoma.
Our next term of service will begin in September 2010. We will begin accepting applications for the 2010-2011 program year in April 2010. If you are interested in applying to be a Community HealthCorps Member, please download and complete the application process.
Our Community HealthCorps members can get the best of both worlds:
1) The ability to help make a difference in health care delivery and service.
Members will: Learn and perform activities that supplement services provided by community health agency staff, assist community health agency patients and community residents who do not have access to a medical home through education and enrollment in health insurance, work with patients to ensure they keep appointments and follow treatment plans to better use primary and preventive health services, provide health education to help patients understand how to live a healthy lifestyle, recruit, train, and manage long-term non-AmeriCorps volunteers; and
2) The chance to experience what it is really like to live and breathe in a rural community and live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Mendocino County is a beautiful rural area, and a challenge in itself. South of Mendocino County is Sonoma County, a magnificent region with award winning wineries, towering redwoods and a dramatic coastline. If you want to live and experience rural community living, choosing one of our sites will give you that.
Here are some letters from current Members describing their HealthCorps experiences:
What are the day-to-day activities of the Members?
Because each health center has its own unique characteristics and offers a variety of specialized services, HealthCorps Members' daily activities differ greatly from one another. The following are some of the direct service activities that Members may be involved with during their term of service:
Signing up local children in Healthy Families and Medi-Cal, and educating parents on family health care needsSigning up adults and families in appropriate health insurance programsAssisting seniors in appropriate utilization of Medicare Part D, and in securing access to expensive pharmaceuticalsWorking closely with patients, individually and in groups, on self-management of their chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension and coronary diseaseMonitoring patient charts, scheduling appointments, and making reminder phone calls
Outreach to special populations (migrant workers, homeless, youth, etc.)
If Members have a particular professional interest in a certain aspect of the health care field, we will make an effort, when possible, to provide mentorship and experience in a project of the Member's choosing.
Here are some success stories from 2009-2010 HealthCorps Members:
Holly C., West County Health Centers, Occidental, CA
I had a great experience at the CHOW meeting this past month - we completed a huge project earlier this year called the Resource Binder, which lists thousands of services and resources in West Sonoma County. We printed them out for each of the clinics in our consortium but never thought of passing them out to the larger community. One of the outreach workers at the CHOW meeting had seen the binder at his appointment at our clinics, and asked the Nurse if he could make a copy. She let him, and he made 18 new copies and proudly brought them to this meeting, where he passed them out and made a big deal out of how great they were - everyone was really appreciative! It was very gratifying to see how useful our work could be.
Christina K., West County Health Centers, Guerneville, CA
I did a presentation at the Graton Day Labor Center on nutrition. It was a huge success. Learning from my past experiences of not trying to do the entire presentation myself or just have them watch a video, I included some of the members of the center. It took a lot more preparation but it was well worth it. I made a power-point presentation in Spanish and then got their feedback on what they liked and didn't like and what more they wanted included. Then I had them divide up the parts that they wanted to present and met with them several times to practice. I brought in actual food models and even made healthy vegetarian enchiladas for everyone to sample. It was great to include some of the members because they then felt like they had ownership of the project, and the audience could relate more to them. It was a lot of fun and they even asked for a follow-up presentation with more details on what vitatimins specfically are in each fruit and vegetable!
Sarah W., Mendocino Community Health Clinic, Ukiah, CA
I've probably told everyone I know this story because I think it is so ridiculously cute. I was teaching OHI (oral health instruction) at one of the kingergartens. At the end of the class, the teacher reminded the kids to say thank you. From somewhere out in the class I heard one of the kids go "I want to hug her!" Suddenly, I was surrounded by 20 kindergarteners in a bear hug! I left that school with such a positive feeling. Even if they kids aren't going home and brushing their teeth (which I REALLY hope they are), at least for the 30 mins in that I'm there in class, they're having fun, they're engaged and as I said, I really hope they're taking home the message too.
