Community Health Workers
The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and the Community HealthCorps program of AmeriCorps provide clinicians and community health workers, respectively, the opportunity to improve health care access in areas of great medical need. To support and encourage their service, both programs offer finiancial support in the form of either grants or loan repayment. In fact, 18% of SBHCs utilize NHSC members, while 4% of SBHCs use AmeriCorps members. Of the SBHCs that participate in either NHSC or AmeriCorps, an overwhelming majority serve SBHCs in urban areas (NASBHC Census 2007-2008). NHSCThe National Health Service Corps (NHSC), through scholarship and loan repayment, helps Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in the U.S. get the medical, dental, and mental health providers they need to meet their tremendous need for health care. The NHSC is open to current or recently graduated students enrolled in accredited medical (MD or DO), dental, nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, and physician assistant training. In exchange for providing a scholarship or loan repayment program, the student must serve a minimum of two years in a community-based site in a high-need HPSA that has applied to and been approved by the NHSC as a service site.
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