Rural Project Examples: Community health workers
Promising Examples

Updated/reviewed November 2022
- Need: To properly address and treat patients who have concurrent substance use and chronic healthcare issues.
- Intervention: A referral system utilizes community health workers (CHWs) in a drug and alcohol treatment setting. A registered nurse helps with providers' medication-assisted treatment programs.
- Results: This program has reduced hospital emergency visits and hospital readmissions for patients since its inception.
SASH® (Support and Services at Home)
Updated/reviewed March 2022
Updated/reviewed March 2022
- Need: In Vermont, the growing population of older adults, coupled with a lack of a decentralized, home-based system of care management, poses significant challenges for those who want to remain living independently at home.
- Intervention: SASH® (Support and Services at Home), based in affordable-housing communities throughout the state, works with community partners to help older adults and people with disabilities receive the care they need so they can continue living safely at home.
- Results: Compared to their non-SASH peers, SASH participants have been documented to have better health outcomes, including fewer falls, lower rates of hospitalizations, fewer emergency room visits, and lower Medicare and Medicaid expenditures.

Updated/reviewed April 2021
- Need: Expand healthcare access for the more remote residents of 3 frontier counties in north central Idaho.
- Intervention: Consortium of healthcare providers and community agencies used a hybrid Community Health Worker model to augment traditional healthcare delivery services in order to offer a diverse set of healthcare offerings to frontier area residents.
- Results: Increased healthcare access, especially for cancer and chronic disease screening, along with providing education on a diverse array of health topics.

Updated/reviewed May 2020
- Need: To reduce the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in rural Colorado.
- Intervention: Community Health Workers are utilized to create a system of coordinated care in Delta, Montrose, Ouray, and San Miguel counties.
- Results: As of 2018, 2,709 people have been screened for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, with many at-risk patients lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, and A1C levels after engaging with a Community Health Worker.
Other Project Examples


Updated/reviewed September 2022
- Need: Improved approach in addressing the behavioral health and primary care disparities of Indiana's underserved rural counties.
- Intervention: A network was established that trained community health workers (CHW) to be certified health insurance enrollment navigators and provide mental health services.
- Results: This year, ASPIN trained 230 CHWs, cross-trained 70 behavioral health case managers as CHWs, and 35 individuals in the Indiana Navigator Pre-certification Education.
Rural Libraries and Health Cooperative Agreement
Added May 2022
Added May 2022
- Need: To increase access to healthcare and social services in rural South Carolina via library systems.
- Intervention: Pilot sites are hiring social workers and community health workers to provide consultations, case management, and referrals.
- Results: One library's social worker program currently has 62 active clients, and another library screens an average of 215 residents a month.
Disabled Adults Oral Health Initiative
Updated/reviewed April 2022
Updated/reviewed April 2022
- Need: To help rural Maryland adults with disabilities learn more about oral health and access care.
- Intervention: Health Right community health workers gave educational presentations at agencies serving those with disabilities.
- Results: From March 2014 to February 2016, educational presentations reached 1,084 adults with disabilities and 344 staff and caregivers, and 256 people received dental treatment.
Coast to Forest: Mental Health Promotion in Rural Oregon
Added November 2021
Added November 2021
- Need: To promote mental health and prevent substance use disorders in Oregon.
- Intervention: Coast to Forest strengthens local capacity through training and community education.
- Results: In its first year, the project trained 195 individuals across Oregon in Mental Health First Aid and developed 36 county-level resource guides.

Updated/reviewed December 2020
- Need: Meeting the health care needs of the uninsured and underinsured population of Sussex County, Delaware.
- Intervention: La Red Health Center was created to offer culturally competent primary and preventative care to children and adults, regardless of ability to pay.
- Results: La Red Health Center (LRHC) serves thousands of residents at four clinical sites, a school-based wellness center and through a collaborative effort with a local senior center.

Updated/reviewed July 2020
- Need: Connect individuals to services that address health barriers.
- Intervention: A pay-for-outcomes model utilizing Community Health Workers who help provide community members with tools to address needs associated with improving health.
- Results: Trained Community Health Workers help patients navigate the healthcare and social service systems and provide education about community healthcare resources.
For examples from other sources, see: