On January 24, the Diabetes Impact Project (DIP-IN) and IU Health’s Indianapolis Health Equity, Access, outReach and Treatment (iHEART) Collaborative, brought together community health workers (CHWs) from both projects for our first CHW quarterly collaborative meeting.
Both DIP-IN and iHEART CHWs work with Indianapolis residents who have chronic, preventable diseases as well as social needs, and both teams work in similar areas of the city with clinical and community outreach teams. Additionally, the Eskenazi Health Community Weaver program was also present. Weavers are Eskenazi Health’s community outreach workers that complement their clinical CHW teams.
Historically, DIP-IN held quarterly meetings focused on bringing together our DIP-IN Eskenazi CHWs (clinical) and our DIP-IN neighborhood CHWs (community). With CHW programs increasing in Indianapolis, DIP-IN, iHEART, and Eskenazi wanted to partner on bringing CHW teams together across the profession in our city.
This first quarterly meeting featured an overview of each project or team, and what each role specifically does for their community or clinical populations. Additionally, the teams had a chance to network with each other by area, share contact information, and gain further insight into each of the various roles.
In 2025, we will continue to bring these teams together for collaborative training opportunities, as we know the bringing together and shared connection of the CHW workforce will yield closer connection amongst CHWs working in similar areas of the city, and furthermore, potentially greater outcomes for patients and communities when CHWs are working together.