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When she met Cristel Woodcock, tears
welled up in Maria Hernandez’s eyes.

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They’d found one another just in time.
Maria and her daughter, Jaileah,

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had moved to Harrisburg from El Salvador
six months earlier.

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Jaileah has cerebral
palsy and needs constant care.

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Maria has to spend so much time
looking after her,

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finding work has been impossible.

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During the school year, Jaileah
brings home food she obtains through

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a Pennsylvania-run school lunch program,
which gives them enough to live on.

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But when summer arrives,
the family has to improvise,

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so Maria walks to local food banks
for sustenance.

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At one nearby pantry, she was treated
so rudely she felt she couldn’t return.

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So, on this day in early August,
she walked into Brethren Community

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Ministries on Hummel Street
to give BCMPeace a try.

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By 9:30 a.m., her Allison Hill
neighbors were already clustering

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into the waiting room near the church
sanctuary and trying to align themselves

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with breezes from a box fan

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positioned to tamp down the already
sweltering temperatures.

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Like Maria, many in the gathering
crowd spoke only Spanish.

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While waiting in line,
she went to the table marked United Way

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and struck up a conversation with the
young woman with the empathetic smile.

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It turned out to be transformative.

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Woodcock is the Contact to Care Community
Health Worker for Penn State Health.

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For residents in this neighborhood,
Woodcock is the face of the partnership

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between Penn State Health

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and United Way of the Capital Region’s
Contact to Care program.

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Woodcock connects people
with what they need.

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She helps them
find medical, dental and vision care.

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She also nudges them in the direction
of other United Way programs

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that can help them find work, food
and shelter. “We

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find people who fall through the cracks,”
she said.

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Maria and Jaileah were teetering
on the edge of one.

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They’d attempted to get health insurance
but were denied.

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Now the care she depended on from another
local clinic was threatened.

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Enter a community health worker.

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‘They’re a conduit’ Community
health workers like Woodcock

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cover the front lines of Penn State
Health’s grassroots efforts to extend

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mental health, health
equity and wellness and disease

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prevention to people in need in the region
it serves.

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A 2021 survey of six counties from which
Penn State Health serves patients

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found that: Almost half of all
respondents can’t afford health insurance,

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and a quarter are ineligible
for employer-paid coverage.

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Between 8% and 11% of all respondents
reported limited access to healthy foods.

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Forty-two percent reported
being told they have high blood pressure,

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and 39% had high cholesterol.

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Language, socioeconomic and geographic

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barriers prevent many local residents
from accessing health care

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or even simply buying fruits
and vegetables for their families.

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That’s where community health workers come in.

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Throughout the region, they plant
community gardens, connect patients

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with care and even help
figure out rides to doctor’s offices.

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“They’re a conduit,” said

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Ashley Visco, community
health director at Penn State Health.

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“Community health workers
are part of their communities and provide

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a vital connection between resources
and the people who need them most.

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Every day, they’re bringing Penn State
Health to the people who can’t

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get to Penn State Health.”

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Veggies and strolls.
In Berks County, community

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health workers are the driving force
behind two outreach programs.

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They help organize
and bring walkers to Walk with a Doc,

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a national effort
to connect doctors with their communities.

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For 12 weeks every summer since 2020,
a different doctor from Penn State Health

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St. Joseph
Medical Center takes a 2- to 3-mile stroll

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through a local park with a growing group
of people from the neighborhood.

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During the winter of 2022,

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the group partnered
with the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts,

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which operates out of a tall
building on Washington Street in Reading.

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The walkers rode
the elevator to the top floor

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and then made their walk
through the building to the bottom floor.

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Usually, local residents pick a topic –
something like heart disease or diabetes.

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The doctor – sometimes it’s a dietician
or other health

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expert ― shares
their expertise during the walk.

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Many of the participants don’t
speak English, and that’s one of many ways

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community health worker
Madeline Bermudez comes in handy.

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Not only does Bermudez
live close by – she’s from Lititz – she’s

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also a fixture in the Hispanic
community and speaks Spanish.

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She draws from personal experience.

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Bermudez knows what it’s like
to be Hispanic and have family members

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struggling with health needs in
an English-language dominated culture.

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“We’re really very fortunate
to have her on the team,” said

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Monica Rush, director of rehabilitation
and downtown services

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and community
and wellness initiatives at St.

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Joseph Medical Center.

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Bermudez is also well-acquainted with
how hard it is

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to find healthy food in a food desert,
which is what makes her invaluable

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to another Berks County community
outreach program – Veggie Rx.

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Launched in 2018, the program rewards
local people who have diabetes

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for taking a class about healthy eating
and fitness with vouchers they can use

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to purchase only fruits and vegetables
for themselves and their families.

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The program is nationally recognized
for lowering hemoglobin A1C levels

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among its participants
by significant percentages, Rush said.

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Bermudez serves as a teacher
for some of the classes

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and is also one of the program’s
biggest cheerleaders.

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Community health workers like her
are often the most adept communicators

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for getting out the word about programs
like Veggie Rx. But community

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health workers do more than just teach
and advertise, Rush said.

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Participants sometimes come to Veggie Rx
with other complaints.

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Maybe they’re having trouble
paying an electric bill

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or can’t catch a ride
to see an out-of-the-way doctor.

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Bermudez has the right connections
and phone numbers and can help knock down

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language barriers. “They are advocates
for our patients to make sure [the

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patients]
they are aware of all the resources

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that are available to them
in the community,” Rush said.

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A connection. Woodcock meets
community members like Hernandez

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at places like BCMPEACE
and listens to their challenges.

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The same morning she met Hernandez,
another man dropped by her table.

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He pulled a card from his wallet
and showed it to her.

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Woodcock grinned.

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Her voice rose, and her hands fluttered
as she spoke to him in Spanish.

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He’d been unable to obtain
health insurance, she said.

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Woodcock had invited him to the office
she keeps at Centro

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Hispano in Harrisburg
and helped him fill out the proper forms.

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The card was the man’s new insurance card.

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The connection
with someone who speaks the language

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and knows the culture can often
be profound, Woodcock said.

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She was born and raised in Guatemala City.

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Her parents still live there, but in 2011
she moved to the U.S.

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with her husband,
who is from Washington state originally.

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In her home country, she worked as a care
coordinator at an oncology clinic.

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When the couple moved
to central Pennsylvania two years ago,

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she saw the Penn State Health
job opening and thought, why not?

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As Maria waited to collect
some food for her daughter,

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she and Woodcock made arrangements
to meet later to help get Jaileah

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the care she needs at a Penn State
Health facility.

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As they spoke, tears
began to scald Maria’s eyes.

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he reached out and grasped Woodcock’s
hand.

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For a moment they looked like two sisters
who’d found one another.

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“I lived in El Salvador,” Woodcock said.