A colleague’s journey: Community Health Worker Maddie Ruth

“Up until a year ago, my life centered around farming: raising and growing food, turning my hands in the soil, and collecting eggs before they froze on bitter winter days,” Maddie Ruth, one of Home Health & Hospice’s community health workers, tells us.

“When my maternal grandparents both died a couple of years ago, I felt a fresh spark and desire to learn and lean into end-of-life care. Through the support of mentors, friends and family, I left farming, embraced gardening, and walked into this new thing called home health. Talk about a humbling experience. I volunteered at the McClure Miller Respite House, became an end-of-life doula and continued to feel like I just needed to learn and experience more.”

‘I meet clients where they are’

Through Home Health & Hospice, “I trained and worked as a personal care attendant (PCA) until I stepped into the community health worker (CHW) position in the Longitudinal Care Program. As CHW, I am part of a team-based approach to health care. I focus on care coordination for folks living at home with chronic medical conditions. In practice, this looks like weekly in-person, phone or telehealth visits with clients.”

“I meet clients where they are, and I work with them to identify and support their health goals by connecting clients with services, working to reduce their barriers and advocating for them. Sometimes this simply means getting all of a client’s service and health providers on the same page/same email,” she explains.

Raising awareness

“The CHW role truly revives the human-centered approach to health care, and I just love that … along with Sam (my partner) and our cat,” adds Maddie, who works in tandem with fellow CHW Tanya Jenkins, the Longitudinal Care team’s newest member.

Maddie is also active with the Community Health Workers of Vermont Steering Committee, which developed a new brand identity, logo (pictured) and key messages for CHWs across Vermont.

The  new logo celebrates the caring professionals who connect vulnerable individuals with the support, compassion and care they need to thrive.

“I am proud of the outcome,” Maddie says. “This is one more critical step in raising awareness and ensuring sustainability for this role in the Vermont health system.”

Learn more about the work Maddie and other Vermont CHWs are doing here.