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MANSFIELD — Kim Miller is a professional problem solver. She’s a cheerleader and a grace giver. She’s constantly encouraging the people around her to reach their fullest potential.
She’s also a pioneer as one of Richland County’s longest-serving community health workers.
Miller recently marked her 23rd year as a community health worker (CHW) in Mansfield. She began her career with the Community Health Access Project and currently serves as CHW coordinator for Third Street Family Health Services.
“Despite being a supervisor full-time and managing 15 people, she is still carrying a caseload,” CHW Diana Sharp said. “I think that really speaks to her level of experience and the fact that she’s been at this for more than 20 years.”
Third Street’s CHWs run a variety of programs designed to help eliminate barriers and promote wellbeing among individuals most at-risk for negative health outcomes.
A big part of a CHW’s role is helping connect individuals with resources in the community, but the job goes far beyond that. Building relationships and being a good listener is crucial.
“They have to be passionate about where they live before they start doing the CHW work. You can’t train someone on that,” CHAP founder Sarah Redding said. “It’s really somebody who is well-connected and compassionate and can put themselves into somebody else’s shoes.”
Redding described Miller as one of the best CHWs in Richland County. Miller began her career as one of the original CHWs for the Community Health Access Project, a pilot program spearheaded by Redding and her late husband Mark, who was also a physician.
“When I first started, we were promised six months of employment,” Miller recalled. “I’ve been here 23 years. It’s either we did a really, really good job or the services were needed.”
While the field of community health work was new to Mansfield, Miller and her family were already doing home visits as part of their church’s outreach ministry.
Her parents, Pastor David and Diana Dennis, led parishioners at New Jerusalem Progressive COGIC in serving the community through food pantries, clothing ministry, tutoring programs and outreach.
“Everybody thought we were nurses and social workers because we were just doing so much,” Miller recalled.
Miller’s grandmother, Johnnie Mae Johnson, made it her mission to help unwed pregnant teens with little to no support.
“She would go to thrift stores and buy baby items for girls whose parents had kicked them out of the house,” Miller said. “She would go and get things and find resources for people. She was never trained, she was not labeled a community health worker, but she was doing what I’m doing now 50 or 60 years ago.”
Miller heard about the opportunity to turn her passion into a profession when the Reddings visited her church.
“They spoke to our congregation and I thought, I’m doing this now for free. It’d be good to do it for a little pay,” she said.
CHAP trained the first CHWs in Richland County with the mission of reducing infant mortality rates, but the field quickly grew. Today, CHWs work with people of all ages from all walks of life.
“Our job is not to just give people things,” CHW Shanay Hughes said. “It’s to be a support system.”
Help Me Grow works with first-time moms to improve maternal and child health, prevent child abuse and neglect, encourage positive parenting and promote child development.
Moms and Babies First works with African American women to prevent pre-term delivery and a second baby before the first baby turns one.
Managed Care promotes health and wellbeing among individuals of all ages. PrEP serves individuals at increased risk of developing HIV. The Malabar Care Connect program provides accessible care to students, teachers and families within the Mansfield City Schools. CHWs from Third Street also serve on the Richland County Opiate Response Team.
Miller said the key to being successful is really listening to clients and working with them to achieve their goals.
“Kim knows how to meet her clients where they’re at, which is a very important part of our business,” Sharp said. “Whoever we serve, they are in the driver’s seat. They get to set the pace. That is one thing Kim definitely taught me.”
Rather than trying to “fix” someone’s life, being a CHW is about empowering others and finding solutions to help clients achieve the life they want.
“The key is just listening and trying to meet them at their needs, not putting my goals or my wants on them,” Miller said. “Whatever they want to do, make that a priority for them.”
Sometimes clients need a little direction or help with goal-setting. Miller has seen many pregnant teens experience hopelessness about their future.
“You can’t come in judgmental. You can’t be ‘Oh I pulled myself up why can’t they?’” she said. “Everybody’s different. Every individual has their own story.”
“You have to begin building up their self esteem,” she said. “I tell them, you still can do it. It’s just gonna take the extra work.
“You still can be what you want to be. It’s just gonna be a little harder.”
CHWs see clients struggling with any number of challenges, from inadequate housing and transportation to trauma and mental health issues.
Even with professional boundaries in place, the hardships CHWs see can be difficult to forget.
“It’s not a clock-in, clock-out job,” Miller said. “When I go home at night and I know there’s a client that’s about to be evicted, or about to lose their children because they’re struggling with a drug addiction — I worry about them.
“It’s hard to sleep at night sometimes in my warm bed thinking about my clients who don’t have heat or don’t have electricity or are struggling.”
Miller said she copes by being fully present and grateful for her life outside of work. She takes a lot of deep breaths and focuses on her faith and her family.
“I look at my kids and I’m just thankful for the life we have,” she said.
She’s also learned to make peace with the fact that not every client is ready to accept help.
“In the beginning it was really tough because I felt like I had to save everybody,” Miller said. “Then a light bulb went off that I’m not going to save everybody. There’s gonna be some that’s gonna fall through the cracks, but it wasn’t because I didn’t try. I do what I can do.
“You can’t go in thinking you’re going to fix everybody because you can’t.”
Despite the tough nature of the work, Miller has seen many lives change during her 23 years.
She smiles when she recalls clients who have gone on to meet their goals. She’s seen clients go on to be nurses, marriage counselors, real estate brokers and school employees.
“I’ve had so many success stories,” she said. “That’s my favorite thing about the work is seeing my clients become successful — meeting their goals and just overcoming barriers.”
