Community Health Worker - Bilingual

Hope Family Health•Westmoreland, TN

About The Position

The Community Health Worker (CHW) helps patients access and navigate HOPE Family Health services and community resources. The CHW communicates with patients and care teams, identifies barriers to care, coordinates follow-up, and documents services accurately. Depending on the assignment, the CHW may focus on medical or behavioral health telephone support, language access, referrals, outreach, care coordination, or connecting patients with resources such as food, housing, financial assistance, and transportation. Each CHW performs duties within their assigned area, training, credentials, and HOPE policies; individual CHWs are not expected to perform every duty listed in the position description. This position requires fluency in English and Spanish to provide interpretation during medical appointments. Language interpretation and translation duties are performed when the CHW is separately qualified and authorized under HOPE policy. The role does not independently diagnose, treat, or provide clinical advice; clinical concerns are routed to appropriate licensed staff or providers. The role functions primarily in a professional office or clinical environment, with occasional travel between HOPE sites. Off-site work is not required, but may be approved by the Team Leader for tasks such as trainings, conferences, meetings, or deadline-driven daily activities. Approved off-site workers must have a confidential designated workspace. Occasional extended hours may be required based on organizational needs. The role may involve exposure to health hazards, including body fluids, and occasionally requires lifting or moving items up to 25 pounds.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent required.
Ability to communicate clearly and respectfully with patients, colleagues, and community partners.
Ability to organize competing tasks and use sound judgment about when to escalate concerns.
Ability to use electronic health records and standard office software, or to learn them with training.
Must be able to communicate effectively in English, verbally and in writing.
Sufficient vision and hearing to perform duties and communicate by phone and in person.
Occasionally able to lift or move items up to 25 pounds.
Fluency in English and Spanish is required for this position to provide interpretation during medical appointments.

Nice To Haves

Relevant experience in health care, behavioral health, patient service, community outreach, or resource navigation.
Knowledge of local resources and barriers to care.
Additional language proficiency, interpreter qualifications, professional credentials, or Basic Life Support certification may be required for specific assignments.

Responsibilities

Build respectful, trusting relationships with patients and families, communicate in a culturally responsive manner, and support patient choice and self-advocacy.
Contact patients by telephone, electronic message, or in person as assigned; respond to questions, relay approved information, identify needs, and promptly route clinical concerns to appropriate licensed staff or providers.
Help patients understand appointments, care plans, referrals, tests, and next steps using information approved by the care team; reinforce education and instructions without independently diagnosing, treating, or giving clinical advice.
Identify barriers to care, including transportation, insurance, cost, language, food, housing, and access to services; connect patients with HOPE programs and community resources and follow up as assigned.
Coordinate with medical, behavioral health, pharmacy, and other teams and external partners to support continuity of care and timely follow-up.
Maintain timely, accurate records of contacts, referrals, services, and follow-up in the electronic health record and other approved systems, while protecting confidential information.
Participate in team meetings, training, quality improvement activities, and updates to resource information and workflows.
Depending on assignment, manage incoming and outgoing patient communications, route messages, relay provider-directed results or instructions, and support medical or behavioral health workflows.
Depending on assignment, track referrals, gather and transmit information through approved channels, obtain required authorizations, coordinate specialty appointments, inform patients of status and next steps, and follow up on completion.
Depending on assignment and qualifications, provide bilingual navigation and authorized interpretation or translation, and arrange qualified language assistance when needed.
Depending on assignment, process records and correspondence, obtain or document appropriate releases, support discharge follow-up and external service coordination, and respond to authorized information requests.
Participate in outreach, health fairs, patient education, resource navigation, and other community-based activities when assigned.
Perform other duties as assigned by the Team Leader to support departmental operations and organizational needs.