Community health workers build relationships while supporting patients

Levi Marken removes thinking putty from a container that reads "cherry-scented," before twisting the red Play-Doh around his fingers.

Seated in an Ely, Minnesota, coffee shop, Marken has splayed in front of him two additional putty tins, a couple of fidgets and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Out of all the tools, the latter have proven to be perhaps the biggest game-changer.

Without them, “driving was triggering to an extent,” he said. 

After years of panic attacks, sensory sensitivities and resulting mental health struggles, Marken has reaped life-changing benefits from working with Essentia Health community health worker Mataya Urbas. 

During his work with Urbas, Marken learned that traveling with items like fidgets and headphones helps him participate in the community. Where he used to spend most of his time “hiding in his house,” these life-changing adjustments help him self-regulate an overstimulated nervous system while venturing out, vacuuming his home or meeting at a coffee shop.

“He’s a real success story,” Urbas said.

Essentia Health’s community health workers (CHW) are natural helpers, who have a close understanding of the community they serve and are trained to address social determinants of health through patient-centered goal-setting.

Essentia’s CHW program supports around 1,300 patients annually, and it’s offered in-person in 10 locations, and virtually at 60-plus clinics.

From food access to substance use treatment, CHWs creatively leverage community resources to address a patient’s health concerns. Essentia’s CHW program provides social support, care coordination and advocacy to patients beyond our clinic walls across Moorhead, Virginia, Park Rapids and more. 

And that means meeting patients where they’re at — physically, emotionally and situationally, said Urbas, who has been in her role for five years.

“It can be a rollercoaster, but then you have days when a patient who’s been applying for housing finally gets accepted or working with an isolated elder whose husband died — seeing her realize what she could do on her own is very, very rewarding,” she added.

When Urbas and Marken began working together, she supported him through the disability application process, as well as applying for county benefits. Today, Marken makes his own phone calls, schedules his own appointments for his health care needs, and he’s preparing himself for employment. 

While much has changed for Marken on the outside, there seems an even greater shift inside. 

“Put words to your emotions,” he said. “Try to pinpoint what’s anxiety, what’s feeling overwhelmed, what’s on the verge of a meltdown, what’s triggering this? Being able to realize that has been extremely helpful.”