About Us: VOALA Helping Our Most Vulnerable Change Their Life Stories Volunteers of America is a non-profit human services organization committed to serving people in need, strengthening families, and building communities.
VOALA provides a variety of social services to Los Angeles area communities such as Head Start programs, Upward Bound college prep programs, veterans’ services, homeless shelters, low-income housing program as well as drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Learn more at www.voala.org.
HEAD START/EARLY HEAD START Through our Head Start and Early Head Start programs, we work with children (ages 0 – 5) and their families to provide the skills, confidence and stable home life necessary for a smooth transition into kindergarten and beyond.
Children also receive a broad array of health services including screenings and referrals, maintenance of immunization schedules, nutrition assessments and follow-ups, mental health assessments as part of initial screenings, and determination if any mental or physical delays are present.
Children receive health and dental services and have access to ongoing and acute and routine health and dental care.
Enrolled children receive healthy meals, along with an assessment of their nutritional needs and the necessary follow-ups.
Nutrition education is available for parents and incorporated into daily classroom activities for the children.
Cities served include: Carson, Commerce, Compton, Culver City, Del Rey, East Los Angeles, El Segundo, Harbor City, Hawthorne, South Central Los Angeles, Lomita, Lynwood, Mar Vista, Newhall, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Palms, Paramount, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Fernando, San Pedro, Santa Clarita, Shadow Hills, South Central Los Angeles, South LA, Studio City, Sun Valley, Sunland, Sylmar, Torrance, Tujunga, Val Verde, Valencia, Valley Village, Wilmington.
JOB SUMMARY AND PURPOSE The Children Services Health Ambassador provides culturally appropriate health education and information, helps children and families get the care they need, gives informal counseling and guidance on safety, social distancing and health behaviors, advocates for individual and community health needs, and provide some direct services such as first aid and blood pressure screening.
The Health Ambassador shall focus efforts on the families of children served by VOALA Head Start / Early Head Start.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Outreach and community mobilization * Prepare and disseminate material, find and recruit participants, assess community needs, promote health literacy, be an advocate.
Community/cultural liaison * Organize communities, be an advocate, translate and interpret, conduct assessments.
Care management and care coordination * In coordination with Program Management and/or primary caregiver, establish the basic needs of the participants.* Facilitates children and families in their comprehensive health self-screenings to collect functional, environmental, psycho-social, employment, housing, educational, and health information, as appropriate* Assess barriers facing the children and families and develop a health care plan.* Coordinate individualized planning with children and families to meet short
– and long-term needs.* Provide service linkages and support systems to ensure identified needs are met.
* Engage families, conduct assessments, address basic needs, set goals and plan actions, supply counseling, suggest referrals, give feedback to providers, produce documentation.* Coordinates health case conferences with children and families, consults with service team, monitors progress of children and families on health case plan, assists children and families to meet the agreed upon goals.
Health promotion and health coaching * Teach and model behavior change, coach on problem solving, reduce harm, promote treatment adherence, facilitate support groups.* Designs and provides a comprehensive health services plan for each client that includes a broad range of community medical/health services including assisting children and families with physical and emotional needs, and referral to appropriate service providers, maintains individual client health data and information in a secure, HIPAA compliant manner System navigation * Help patients navigate, coordinate, and follow up; translate, and interpret.* Provides health administration services including: direct communication with medical providers, referrals to other providers and community health resources, general health instruction to children and families, and instruction and in-servicing to counseling line staff including instruction on monitoring of self-administration of prescribed medication.
Participatory research * Be an advocate, engage partners, interview, perform data entry, and conduct web searches.* Participates in weekly health case review with Program Staff to ensure best quality care for children and families, and continuous improvement of services.* Acts as liaison between Program Staff and Medical Providers, in order to coordinate best care of children and families* Interact with other program CHWs to develop best practices.
Qualifications REQUIREMENTS: * Must be able to pass a fingerprint clearance, background check, including criminal history, personal references, employment and education verifications EDUCATION: * Within 6 months of hire, complete LA County / VOALA CHW training EXPERIENCE: * Six months experience as a health worker or related volunteer, or a combination of both; a formal degree or certification in a care-giving discipline can substitute for the experience requirement.* Personal experience in dealing with under-served populations, homelessness; knowledge of the barriers to housing KNOWLEDGE: * Basic Knowledge of available health care services.* Understanding of health recommendations.* Understanding of social distancing and safety protocols TECHNOLOGY SKILLS: * Basic Microsoft operating system skills: Outlook, Office, Word, Excel.
SKILLS AND ABILITIES: * Able to follow verbal and written instruction regarding care of individuals* Able to perform basic assistance to allieve minor illness* Able to maintain pleasant demeanor with participants* Demonstrate concern and respect for participants* Be alert and ensure safety of staff and participants* Ability to perform under circumstances of possible emotional stress and conflict, including dealing with un-cooperative children and families* Ability to effectively communicate with homeless population and program staff while demonstrating a high degree of diplomacy and tact* Must be able to work flexible schedule (evenings and weekends required)* Ability to safely and successfully perform the essential job functions consistent with the ADA, FMLA, and other federal, state, and local standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, including meeting qualitative and quantitative productivity standards.* Ability to maintain regular, punctual attendance consistent with ADA, FMLA, and other federal, state, and local standards.
INTERPERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: * Compassionate, caring individual capable of providing one-on-one daily care, including in times of stress; comfortable with addressing and correcting inappropriate behavior; able to de-escalate conflict PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: * High School diploma or GED* Familiarity with Los Angeles County health and social services* Bilingual in Spanish and English VOALA BENEFITS SUMMARY: * Choice of 3 medical insurance plans* Choice of 2 dental insurance plans (one plan for employee only; has no premium)* Vision insurance plan* Voluntary Supplemental Coverage* Accidental Injury Coverage* Hospital Care Coverage* Critical Illness Coverage* Pet Insurance* Paid vacation time* Paid sick time* 10 company paid holidays* Company funded 401a retirement pension plan* Optional employee contribution to 403b retirement savings plan* Life and AD&D insurance* Programs to maintain your health and well-being* Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) – (No cost to employee and 100% confidential)* Company funded Short-term Disability Insurance (STDI) Insurance* Company funded Long-term Disability Insurance (LTD) Volunteers of America is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex including sexual orientation and gender identity, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law This employer participates in E-Verify as required by the federal government and will provide the federal government with your Form 1-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.
If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (OHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment.