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“Let the Horse Run”: Assessing the Potentiality, Challenges, and Future Sustainability of CHWS in Indiana


 The use of community health workers (CHWs) as distinct members of the health care workforce has waxed and waned throughout the last fifty years in the United States. As medical laypersons that are often members of the communities they work within, CHWs are poised to create significant health impacts through their primary roles as health educators, advocates, and by serving as a bridge to the biomedical realm for marginalized communities. While several states have well-established CHW programs, many have not integrated CHWs into their workforce. This article outlines several applied findings from a dissertation project in Indiana, a state on the cusp of introducing legislation and CHW development to further implement this position into the health care workforce. The applied findings discussed in this article include the potentialities, challenges, and future sustainability of CHWs following eleven months of fieldwork and fifty semi-structured interviews.