Julia Maddux certified as Community Health Worker

    Julia Maddux of Imperial and Joy Trail of McCook completed the Community Health Worker (CHW) training offered by the State of Nebraska.   
    According to Myra Stoney, Director of the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (SWNPHD), Community Health Workers perform the following duties:
    Help people understand their health problems in their own language.
    Help people choose ways to improve their health and find the services they need.
    Learn skills to assist the healthcare team in the home or in the clinic.
    Build individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency.
    Both Maddux and Trail are fluent in English and Spanish, skills which SWNPHD utilizes in translation and interpretation for clients while conducting specific programs, Stoney said.  
    One program works with Spanish-speaking persons to “Know Your Numbers,” including cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels.  When levels are found out of a normal range, clients are referred to a medical provider.
    Another program encourages healthy eating and physical activity, and yet a third encourages routine screening for colon, breast and cervical cancer.
    “I like helping people,” Maddux said. “I like seeing people work on healthy behaviors.”
    Stoney offered congratulations to the pair from the health department.
    “I am very pleased with Joy and Julia’s accomplishment and their commitment toward providing excellence in our programs,” she said.  “Our role is to provide a competent work force. We attain this by investing in our employees.”