Community Health Worker Network

For over two decades, we have hosted capacity-building workshops for CHWs, promotoras, and other asthma educators. Participation is open to anyone providing asthma education in diverse communities across California and beyond. Participants identify meeting topics, and we find experts for presentations and discussion, hosting 8-10 virtual meetings per year. To receive emails about upcoming workshops, please complete this form.

I so appreciate how you get great speakers to keep us informed…I left the training feeling empowered and more knowledgeable and that will be very helpful for my clients. Thank you again for all your assistance.

-Nebiyat Hagos, Social Worker

Our Upcoming Meetings

Our Past Meetings

  • RAMP CHW Meeting: Wildfire smoke updates

    On August 12th, RAMP hosted a CHW meeting on wildfire smoke updates and resources. It included: -The latest research on wildfire smoke presented by Stephanie Holm, MD, MPH, Co-Director of the Western Stated Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. -How to select air cleaners for your clients and resources on proper use and maintenance from Anne…

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  • RAMP CHW Meeting: An Update on Guidelines-Based Practices in Asthma Management

    On June 11, 2024, the RAMP CHW meeting focused on “An Update on Guidelines-Based Practices in Asthma Management,” presented by Dr. Andi Marmor, Pediatric Asthma/Allergy Clinic, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco. Slides from her presentation can be found here. The meeting recording is here. For more information, or to be added…

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  • RAMP CHW Meeting: Updates on Asthma, Cannabis, Secondhand & Thirdhand Smoke

    On April 4, 2024, RAMP hosted a meeting on “Updates on Asthma, Cannabis, Secondhand & Thirdhand Smoke, presented by Suzaynn F. Schick, PhD Associate Professor, UCSF School of Medicine, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. You can view a recording of the meeting here.

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  • RAMP CHW Meeting: Mapping Asthma ED Visits to Identify Substandard Housing; 2/27

    On February 27th, RAMP hosted a CHW Meeting on “Mapping asthma ED visits to identify substandard housing,” presented by Elizabeth Samuels, MD, Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles and Adam Haber, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. You can view a recording of the…

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In addition to building capacity, as a core part of our Healthcare Equity goal, we advocate for policies and programs to integrate CHWs and promotoras into the healthcare system, focusing on Medi-Cal given the disproportionate impact of asthma on low-income communities. 

Why CHWs and promotoras? They serve an essential role in asthma management. Robust evidence shows that CHWs and promotoras provide effective asthma self-management and environmental education, bridge the gap between patients and their providers, offer social services such as interpretation and referrals, and perform care navigation.

CHWs and promotoras are recognized as uniquely effective in delivering culturally competent home-based asthma interventions because they often have shared cultural backgrounds with participants. Even in cases where there is not a shared cultural background, effective asthma educators practice cultural humility, which is the process of bringing into check the power imbalances between the provider and the individual or family. The CHW/promotora approach to a culturally humble process involves asking questions to gain knowledge, achieving mutual respect, and moving toward shared goal-setting and decision-making.

Innovations in state approaches to Medi-Cal, as well as the leadership of some private payers, are creating more opportunities for CHWs, promotoras, and other non-licensed providers to be reimbursed for providing services in home and community settings.

To learn more, contact Anne Kelsey Lamb at anne@rampasthma.org/.

RAMP is an organization that has accompanied me in my journey as an asthma community health worker for more than two decades, and I am grateful for that.

-Silvia Raymundo, CHW