A lay health advocate helps the patients prepare for medical appointments, update and organize physicians' information. After the medical appointments, a lay health advocate offers follow-up care services by monitoring patient conditions and ensuring they follow all treatment recommendations. They assist patients in scheduling additional appointments and arrange their medications. These professionals advise patients on the best ways to maintain control over medical care and prevent more medical issues like fall injuries.

Lay Health Advocate Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real lay health advocate resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Manage large databases, analyze records, perform literature reviews, prepare PowerPoint presentations, and interpret data for publication.
  • Provide advocacy and direct support to acute adult and adolescent patients requiring medical and behavioral health treatment in the emergency room.
  • Maintain all test subject results and consent forms are fully confidential in lieu of federal HIPAA regulation (s . )
  • Comply with federal regulation in management of clients sensitive personal identifiable information (HIPAA regulations )
  • Handle suicide prevention and self-harm patients, medical conditions involving bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders and schizophrenia.
  • Program communication and development working with service providers, healthcare association and organizations to establish a state-wide tobacco treatment safety network.
  • Develop and facilitate nutrition group specifically for women living with HIV/AIDS.
  • Perform intricate HIV/AIDS legal policy research and writing functions including qualitative and quantitative analysis of target populations and stakeholders.

Lay Health Advocate Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 17% of Lay Health Advocates are proficient in Patients, Social Work, and Substance Abuse. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Instructional skills, and Writing skills.

We break down the percentage of Lay Health Advocates that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 17%

    Provided advocacy and direct support to acute adult and adolescent patients requiring medical and behavioral health treatment in the emergency room.

  • Social Work, 14%

    Provided social work consultation to long term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric hospitals and facilities for the developmentally disabled.

  • Substance Abuse, 9%

    Provide community referrals to inpatient and outpatient alcohol and substance abuse treatment centers.

  • Home Health, 5%

    Located home health aides, nursing homes, adult day care centers and rehabilitation services.

  • Behavioral Health, 5%

    Coordinate care between medical and behavioral health providers.

  • Patient Care, 5%

    Provide quality patient care for hospital, acute-care, rehabilitation, and nursing-home settings.

Most lay health advocates list "patients," "social work," and "substance abuse" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important lay health advocate responsibilities here:

  • Analytical skills can be considered to be the most important personality trait for a lay health advocate to have. According to a lay health advocate resume, "health educators collect and analyze data in order to evaluate programs and to determine the needs of the people they serve." Lay health advocates are able to use analytical skills in the following example we gathered from a resume: "provided back up secretary duties (typing, scheduling appointments, data entry and filing). "
  • While it may not be the most important skill, we found that many lay health advocate duties rely on instructional skills. This example from a lay health advocate explains why: "health educators and community health workers should be comfortable with public speaking so that they can lead programs, teach classes, and facilitate discussion with clients and families." This resume example is just one of many ways lay health advocates are able to utilize instructional skills: "led individual and group therapy sessions, and one-hour instructional courses on numerous psychology topics. "
  • Lay health advocates are also known for writing skills, which can be critical when it comes to performing their duties. An example of why this skill is important is shown by this snippet that we found in a lay health advocate resume: "health educators and community health workers develop written materials to convey health-related information" We also found this resume example that details how this skill is put to the test: "managed blood draws, collected saliva samples & assisted in grant writing / irb approval process. "
  • A thorough review of lots of resumes revealed to us that "interpersonal skills" is important to completing lay health advocate responsibilities. This resume example shows just one way lay health advocates use this skill: "health educators and community health workers interact with many people from a variety of backgrounds" Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical lay health advocate tasks: "de-escalated conflicts and interpersonal struggles between residents struggling with substance abuse. "
  • Another common skill for a lay health advocate to be able to utilize is "problem-solving skills." Health educators and community health workers must think creatively about how to improve the health of the community through health education programs a lay health advocate demonstrated the need for this skill by putting this on their resume: "research and solve claim/billing issues working with the member through the resolution of their problem. "
  • See the full list of lay health advocate skills.

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    What Community Workers Do

    Community workers are individuals who work with families or social communities to help promote or restore the social functioning of a community. These workers must promote social justice and maximizing human potential while advocating the rights of individuals and community groups. They must have the skills and flexibility to work with multiple client groups to assess and evaluate community projects and programs. Community workers must also work for non-profit organizations, government, and private sectors to provide human services.

    We looked at the average lay health advocate annual salary and compared it with the average of a community worker. Generally speaking, community workers receive $4,903 higher pay than lay health advocates per year.

    Even though lay health advocates and community workers have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require substance abuse, social services, and community outreach in the day-to-day roles.

    These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A lay health advocate responsibility is more likely to require skills like "patients," "social work," "home health," and "behavioral health." Whereas a community worker requires skills like "mental health," "rehabilitation," "financial eligibility," and "local community." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

    Community workers tend to make the most money in the education industry by averaging a salary of $40,922. In contrast, lay health advocates make the biggest average salary of $36,985 in the education industry.

    On average, community workers reach similar levels of education than lay health advocates. Community workers are 0.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Community Outreach Worker?

    It is the responsibility of the community health program coordinators to create and manage health and wellness programs based in communities. The programs are developed to address various health issues and improve residents' health outcomes for a particular state or city. The coordinators make sure that health program policies and practices are properly implemented. They maintain the budget and track the transactions or expenditures. These professionals should be able to communicate clearly, have attention to detail, and have working experience in the field.

    Now we're going to look at the community outreach worker profession. On average, community outreach workers earn a $11,683 higher salary than lay health advocates a year.

    A similarity between the two careers of lay health advocates and community outreach workers are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "substance abuse," "social services," and "health insurance. "

    While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that lay health advocate responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "social work," "home health," and "behavioral health." But a community outreach worker might use skills, such as, "mental health," "community services," "community events," and "outreach events."

    When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, community outreach workers tend to reach similar levels of education than lay health advocates. In fact, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Community Health Program Coordinator Compares

    Community health workers are health care professionals who are responsible for assisting individuals and communities in adopting health behaviors by outreaching health organizations to implement health programs. These health workers are required to provide basic health care services and perform basic diagnostic procedures such as screening of blood pressure, breast cancer, or communicable disease. They must also identify the particular health care needs of individuals in the community and as well as visit their homes to provide support or information. Community health workers must also arrange transportation to clients who have health appointments or referral sites.

    The community health program coordinator profession generally makes a higher amount of money when compared to the average salary of lay health advocates. The difference in salaries is community health program coordinators making $13,518 higher than lay health advocates.

    By looking over several lay health advocates and community health program coordinators resumes, we found that both roles utilize similar skills, such as "patient care," "health education," and "public health." But beyond that the careers look very different.

    Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from lay health advocate resumes include skills like "patients," "social work," "substance abuse," and "home health," whereas a community health program coordinator might be skilled in "mental health," "educational programs," "community health programs," and "care coordination. "

    Community health program coordinators make a very good living in the government industry with an average annual salary of $50,255. Whereas lay health advocates are paid the highest salary in the education industry with the average being $36,985.

    When it comes to education, community health program coordinators tend to earn higher education levels than lay health advocates. In fact, they're 12.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Health Outreach Worker

    Health outreach workers tend to earn a lower pay than lay health advocates by about $2,997 per year.

    While both lay health advocates and health outreach workers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like patients, social work, and substance abuse, the two careers also vary in other skills.

    Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a lay health advocate might have more use for skills like "home health," "behavioral health," "hipaa," and "mental illness." Meanwhile, some health outreach workers might include skills like "community health," "rehabilitation," "compassion," and "care coordination" on their resume.

    In general, health outreach workers make a higher salary in the insurance industry with an average of $35,581. The highest lay health advocate annual salary stems from the education industry.

    The average resume of health outreach workers showed that they earn similar levels of education to lay health advocates. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 0.1% less. Additionally, they're less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.