School-Based Health Educator I/II
La Clínica is a premier community health center rooted in the concepts of wellness, prevention, and patient-centered care. Since its beginnings as a single storefront operation in Oakland in 1971, La Clínica has grown into a sophisticated provider of primary health care and other services spread across Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano counties. With a total of 35 locations including service sites, support sites, and administration, we continue to expand our reach in our community. La Clínica delivers health care services in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner to most effectively address the needs of the diverse populations it serves. In 2019 alone, La Clínica served more than 91,000 patients and provided more than 767,000 patient visits. With over fifty years of experience serving the community, La Clínica is one of the largest community health centers in California. The mission of La Clínica is to improve the quality of life of the diverse communities we serve by providing culturally appropriate, high quality and accessible health care for all.
La Clínica de La Raza School-Based Health Center Department serves young people ages 3-24. We have 8 health centers in Oakland, San Leandro, and Lorenzo and serve over 6,000 patients each year. The mission of our department is to improve students’ health, wellbeing, and success in school by increasing access to high-quality health care services, reducing barriers to learning, and supporting families and communities by providing basic medical care, behavioral health services and health education in a respectful, youth-centered environment. We offer primary medical care, dental care, vision and eye care, mental health care, and health education. A young person never has to pay out of pocket for our services.
The Health Educator provides individual, classroom, and campus-wide outreach, health education and health coaching services, and is responsible for facilitating a peer education program. This year, more than ever, the Health Educator will play an essential role in ensuring our clinics meet the needs of young people as schools continue to adapt and heal from the pandemic. The role of the Health Educator will likely continue to evolve to reflect pandemic-related changes as they occur, contingent on the circumstances at the school site. While serving at the school-based health centers, the member will provide:
Community & Campus Outreach:
- Campus outreach, likely both remote and in person, to encourage students to access services offered by the health center
- Facilitate the Peer Health Education/Youth Wellness Advisory Board (PHE/YWAB) and support students in acting as health ambassadors to engage with the school/community to spread information about relevant health topics and services at the clinic
- Make classroom presentations, videos, informative remote materials, etc., regarding health center services, minor consent, and various health topics
- Conduct school and community outreach activities regarding a variety of health issues
- Plan and attend large-scale campus events (i.e. Get Yourself Tested Day, Health & Wellness Fair, food demonstrations at Parent Night, etc.). This may need to happen virtually, depending on status of the pandemic.
- Create health education outreach and teaching materials (i.e. curriculum, workshop presentations, brochures, bulletins, flyers, etc.)
- Help run clinic social media accounts
Clinical Health Education Services during one-on-one telehealth and in person appointments:
- Adolescent Screening Visit
- Nutrition, physical fitness, and healthy lifestyle coaching
- Birth control education and counseling
- STI/HIV prevention, testing, and education
- Healthy relationships education
- HEADDSS Assessment
- Possibly COVID prevention counseling
Job Responsibilities:
- Work as part of the health education team to provide one-on-one telehealth and in person health education appointments at La Clínica-operated SBHCs. Topics include: screening visits, birth control education and counseling, pregnancy testing and options counseling, STI/HIV prevention, testing, and education, basic nutrition education, physical fitness and healthy lifestyle coaching, healthy relationships education, and possibly COVID education.
- Help create opportunities to increase health education visits and see patients who need clinical health education
- Perform telehealth and in-person Adolescent Screening Visits with patients at home site
- Check-in patients using Front Desk Support and MA skills
- Facilitate a Peer Health Education/Youth Wellness Advisory Board (PHE/YWAB)
- Train PHE/YWAB members to be peer health ambassadors at school and on social media
- Create opportunities for PHE/YWAB members to be exposed to health careers through guest presentations and health topics through presentations
- Conduct an ongoing evaluation of the PHE/YWAB program
- Assist SBHC staff with planning and implementation of large-scale campus events (i.e. World AIDS Day, Health & Wellness Fair, etc.), both remote and in person
- Build and maintain rapport with students, patients, SBHC staff, school staff, and community members
- Conduct classroom presentations, videos, etc. on various health topics and clinic services
- Assist in planning and implementing health outreach campaigns on campus, remote and in person
- Attend ongoing supervision meetings, departmental health education team meetings and trainings, social media team meetings, and monthly health center staff meetings
- Keep accurate records of daily appointments and community health education activities, and log those records into a computer database
- Participate in the ongoing evaluation of the SBHC health education program and assist with health ed. grants and projects
- Support youth and families with positive food insecurity screens to apply for CalFresh and connect to food resources
- Assist site supervisor with collaborating with the school/site as needed, listening and responding to needs of the school and the nature in which education is happening
- Perform site-specific responsibilities outlined by Health Education Supervisor and/or Site Supervisor
Minimum Job Requirements
Knowledge
- Demonstrated knowledge of principles, methods and materials used in health education including Motivational Interviewing, Health coaching and Group Facilitation
- Demonstrated knowledge of current Health education topic areas relevant to clinic site. Youth-serving sites require: prevention, family planning and STD prevention methods. Other clinics focus on nutrition related chronic disease prevention and perinatal education.
- HIPPA knowledgeable and compliant
- Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills are essential
Abilities
- Ability to work independently and work positively as a collaborative team member
- Must be able to maintain appropriate boundaries with clients
- Must have flexible schedule to conduct classes and attend community events after business hours and on weekends as needed
- Youth serving sites require strong commitment to the principles of adolescent health and youth development
- Bilingual English/Spanish preferred
Other Certifications and Experience
- Must hold a current BLS (Basic Life Support) Certificate. You will have 30-day grace period to obtain your certificate from the date of hire.
- Health Educator I: Requires a High-School degree/GED plus a minimum of one year experience providing health education to undeserved communities of color plus two years’ work experience in a community setting preferably at a health center
- Health Educator II: Requires Bachelor’s degree in Health Education, Health Sciences or behavioral sciences with 2 years’ experience providing health education to underserved communities of color.
- Experience must include providing peer counseling, support, education and/or advocacy services. Must be committed to supporting clients toward the goals of active participation in primary case as well as commitment to services that are strength based and focused on wellness and recovery
- Experience with community outreach and engagement methods required for school-based health center sites
- Experience in group facilitation and presentations