Martha Sanchez, Lead Outreach Facilitator

1. I chose the Community Health Worker Career because I enjoy helping people, I realized that by taking the certification I would have the opportunity to inform the community of the resources that are available. My role as a CHW is to be an advocate in the community. This means empowering the community through education and connections to economic, social, and health resources.

2. I decided to do my job as a Community Health Worker at Project Vida because it is an organization that cares about the health of both its employees and the community.

3. On one occasion I had the opportunity to help an elderly woman at a health fair I was working at. I came to find out that Juanita needed to fix her fire alarm, she did not know where to go, so I called the firefighters to go and install a new alarm. She also told me that her television did not work and that she could not watch the news, fortunately I was able to get a sponsor to buy the television. We installed it, Juanita was happy and extremely grateful. To this day she continues to keep in contact with me.  I am thankful for this job because I have the opportunity to connect with our community.

Mayra Avalos, Lead Navigator 

1. I grew up in a single-parent household. At the time I did not know that we were living below the poverty level, however, my mom wanted the best for my sister and me at whatever cost, so she managed to get us into private school. One of the faculty nuns, Sister Grace, let me know about programs that would be able to help us. As I began college I knew that I wanted to be in a place where parents like my mom could go to and ask for help, that I could be the person that is able to guide people into services that otherwise they would not have known.

2. My role is supervising navigators but I still have the opportunity to help people access services. For example, where a child can get glasses for free, dental appointments, food pantries, etc.

3. In one instance at Pebble Hills high school, on the last day of school, all of our senior (12th grade) clients made time to go into my office and say thank you, this was extremely heartwarming and thoughtful of them. In another instance, there was a student that wanted our services but his dad did not want to sign the consent forms. Although we were not able to give him services, this student, who was in the culinary arts class, would bring me a plate every time he would make something.