Cross-cultural Health Brokers

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**Job Posting: Cross-Cultural Health Brokers**
- **Latin American Spanish-Speaking Community (Part-time)**

Umbrella Multicultural Health Cooperative is a member-driven, not-for-profit community health Centre (CHC). Our members are people who face language and cultural barriers to accessing health care. Our mission is to provide practical access to affordable and holistic healthcare services that are appropriate in culture and language for those without access to health security.

We work with a Cross-Cultural Health Broker (CCHB) Model. CCHBs are multicultural, multilingual healthcare workers who facilitate communication between patients, service providers and health and social service systems.

**Summary of the Position**

The Cross-Cultural Health Broker (CCHB) is a unique role that serves a specialized population who experience language and cultural barriers. CCHBs are trusted members of client/patient communities who support the long-term relationship between patients, physicians, and other service providers while providing a cultural lens to ensure services are relevant and appropriate. The role works in all programs and services offered at Umbrella Co-op.

**Duties and Responsibilities**
- Using a cross-cultural communication framework, CCHB facilitates appointments between patients and health care providers in the clinical setting. They ensure the patient’s informed decision-making by conveying the information effectively between the patient and clinician.
- Manage patient care - support health system navigation and patients’ health needs through peer support or referrals, patient follow-up, etc.
- Address social determinants of health (SDH) in a primary health care context - refer and liaise patients to appropriate health and social services in a timely manner. Network and maintain positive relationships with health and social service agencies.
- Support Health Promotion activities - co-develop and facilitate workshop materials for workshops and peer-led groups, promote healthy living and disease prevention.
- Support patients accessing health care services through virtual technologies.
- Advocacy for patients and services providers.
- Strictly adhere to privacy and confidentiality guidelines.
- Develop trusting relationships with community members and stakeholder agencies.
- Share the vision and mission of Umbrella Co-op with patients and community members.
- Attend internal and external stakeholder meetings as necessary.

**Qualifications**

Required Skills and Education:

- Bachelor’s in Health Sciences or related field, 2 years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience or other qualifications determined to be reasonable and relevant to the level of work
- Experience working as a CCHB, community health worker or related experience
- Fluency in English and the language of the community served: Spanish
- Functional in MS Office, MacOS and other digital communication platforms
- Demonstrated understanding of similarities and differences between the Canadian health care system and the health care system of the community served: Mexico, Central America and South America
- Demonstrated understanding of cultural and traditional health practices and beliefs of the community served.
- Demonstrated understanding of social determinants of health for racialized ethnocultural communities
- Ability to identify and assess assets and needs of patients and community members
- Ability to create culturally and inter-culturally safe and inclusive spaces rooted in the migration experience.
- Demonstrated ability to advocate for patients' needs and resources internally and externally
- Demonstrated ability for relational practice, active listening, and building trust with all stakeholders
- Demonstrated ability to navigate and support difficult conversations, tension, or conflicting perspectives
- Demonstrated ability to manage risk and maintain confidentiality
- Ability to take initiative, and solve complex problems working independently and in a team environment
- Ability for time management, prioritization, and organization

**Preferred Skills**:

- Experience working in culturally diverse community-based setting
- Working with diverse, immigrant, and refugee communities

**Working Conditions**

As a community service organization, the work at Umbrella Co-op is demanding and rewarding. The CCHB works as part of an interdisciplinary and collaborative team. They have high responsibility for meeting patient needs and are often placed in conflict situations arising from differences in healthcare systems, expectations from the Canadian healthcare system and cultural dissonance. They are responsible for the accuracy of the information being translated, for patients’ informed decision-making, and for maintaining patient charts up to date. The CCHB will be trained in general and specific clinical protocols a