A Matter of Trust: Community Health Workers Build Bridges, Improve Health in West Philly

Community health workers like Norma Gerald, 63, perform a range of functions including social support, patient advocacy, and health system navigation, all with the goal of improving health. More broadly, they form a bridge between the health care delivery system and people with limited resources, like those in West Philly, who struggle against deep health inequities, not to mention profound mistrust of a system that has often not had their best interests at heart.