This year, The Conduit has partnered with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to create a podcast series that explores the meaning of care in different communities around the world. From physicians to directors, community workers to advocates, we will be talking to individuals on the ground to discover answers to the question, “what is the point of care?”

In this episode the conversation Paul is joined by Denise Octavia Smith, the founding Executive Director of the National Association of Community Health Workers, and Maria Lemus is the Executive Director of Visión y Compromiso. As a community health worker and health care administration professional, Denise designs and implements community-centred strategies to achieve equitable, diverse and inclusive partnerships, programmes and environments. In Maria’s role at Visión y Compromiso she is helping to transform the role of “promotores” — Community Health Workers specifically focused on meeting the diverse needs of Latinx communities — into a widely accepted profession in the United States as they share the same languages, cultures, and experiences as many native-born and immigrant communities.

Paul, Denise and Maria discuss how Community Health Workers may be a solution to the deep health inequities in the U.S. Community Health Workers and play a key role in connecting communities to healthcare in a trusted and culturally competent way, but they struggle to be recognized and integrated into health systems. This episode will explore how community-based care can change the trajectory of health for people of colour.