Affinia Healthcare’s director honored for outstanding contributions to community health.
ST. LOUIS, MO – Candace Henderson, Affinia Healthcare Director of Community Health, has been selected for the Missouri Community Health Worker of the Year.
Henderson is celebrating nine years with Affinia Healthcare this month. She joined the community health center as a researcher for an infant mortality project grant. Once that grant ended, she enrolled in the Community Health Worker program at St. Louis Community College. She completed the program and later was promoted to Lead Community Health Worker. She was promoted to manager and in 2023, director of Community Health.
Henderson is proud of the work she does in the community.
“The work of a CHW is not just a job; it has to be your passion, work done for patients with grace and dignity,” Henderson explained. “It’s more than just being there; it’s listening, trusting, and advocating for our patients. It’s the foundation for change that can be seen and felt by the community and patients.”
According to American Public Health Association, a community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served. This trusting relationship enables the worker to serve as a liaison between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality of service delivery.
“CHWs ensure our patients have access to high-quality healthcare and critical wraparound services, a link that is critical to the Affinia Healthcare mission,” said Dr. Kendra Holmes, Affinia Healthcare President & CEO. “We are extremely proud of the work Candace and the CHW team do for patients and the community overall. The honor is well-deserved.”
About Affinia Healthcare
Affinia Healthcare is an award-winning, nationally accredited health center, providing affordable primary and preventive health care for St. Louis, Missouri, area residents. Affinia Healthcare is a community health center, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and is accredited through The Joint Commission and National Committee of Quality Assurance organizations. Established in 1906 as the Holy Cross Dispensary, Affinia Healthcare today serves over 43,700 people per year, of whom more than 90 percent have incomes under 100 percent of the federal poverty level. Approximately 70 percent of patients served are Black or African American, 11 percent are Hispanic/Latinx, and over 4,000 are un-housed.
The Affinia Healthcare Foundation helps support the mission of our community health center by providing funding to serve the most vulnerable and disenfranchised in our community. The Foundation depends on a wide array of funding sources and individual donor contributions to fund the care for these communities. To make a donation to the Affinia Healthcare Foundation, please visit www.affiniahealthcare.org/donate.
For more information about Affinia Healthcare, call 314-814-8700, or visit www.affiniahealthcare.org.
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