UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health Program Offers Free Community Health Worker Tuition and Training for Students
HAZARD, Ky. (Dec. 10, 2019) — UnitedHealthcare (UHC) and the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (UK CEHR) announced a grant to support the first-ever Students Striving Toward Better Health in Self and Community initiative, available to Perry County and Hazard Independent high school students.
Students enrolling in the program will receive tuition-free education and training for the community health worker certification. UK CERH will be the lead in the development, coordination and execution of content and programming with UHC providing expertise and support resources. The community health worker (CHW) curriculum is based on the Kentucky Homeplace training model and is built upon Kentucky Homeplace’s 25-years of community health worker experience. Classes will be conducted onsite at Hazard Community and Technical College.
The pilot program presents a unique, first-in-class partnership that demonstrates how private business, higher education and communities are addressing rural health and opportunity in Kentucky together. The grant for $35,000 will cover costs for 23 students, include a UnitedHealthcare virtual mentor internship and a paid apprenticeship.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.