JOB DESCRIPTION: HEALTH ADVOCACY OFFICER

Cairde is a community development organisation working to tackle health inequality among ethnic minority communities by improving ethnic minority access to health services, and participation in health planning and delivery.

Key Terms: Advocate; Negotiate; Outreach; Health Promotion; Rights and Entitlements: Mediate.

The role of the Health Advocacy Officer is to provide appropriate health information and advocacy, through outreach and one-to-one work, to members of minority ethnic communities in order to improve access to, experience of, and outcomes from, health and related services.

Duties

Located primarily in Cairde’s drop-in Health Information and Advocacy Centre (HIAC), the Health Advocacy Officer will:

  • Work on an individual basis with members of minority ethnic communities - in their negotiations with a range of health and other service providers - in order to ensure access to their rights and entitlements to health and other public services.
  • Work on an outreach basis, on the streets or in other centres (i.e. homeless units; hostels, health centres) to promote health and/or deliver Cairde advocacy services.
  • Keep a detailed record of all work and all contacts including specific actions taken; and specific outcomes achieved.
  • Gather and record issues relating to accessing health and related services, and identify trends for policy development.
  • Gather data and record case work to enable work appraisal;
  • Collate monthly, quarterly and annual reports highlighting the experiences of minority ethnic communities in accessing, use of and outcomes from, health and related services.
  • Promote Cairde’s HIAC and health information resources through outreach in key centres as identified by Cairde.
  • Initiate, develop and maintain a working relationship with agencies relevant to the area of health information, promotion, advocacy and rights.
  • Develop and maintain an effective internal and external information resource regarding ethnic minority health.
  • Develop and maintain an in-depth knowledge of all health and welfare resources, entitlements and services in Ireland.
  • Under the management and direction of the Community Development and Policy Coordinator work on a collective basis with minority ethnic groups and other staff members to develop appropriate community responses to the health information and health promotion needs of minority ethnic groups.
  • Under the direction and management of the Community Development and Policy Coordinator support and participate in other Cairde activities e.g. Ethnic Minority Health Forum; Health Promotion Initiative; African Health Initiative, conferences etc.

Additional responsibilities

  • Attend staff meetings and development days as directed.
  • Attend supervision as agreed with line manager.
  • Participate in training/skills development as directed by line manager.
  • Participate in job appraisal and review as required.
  • Undertake other tasks as required form time to time.
  • Adhere to the policies and procedures of Cairde.

Abilities/attributes

  • Commitment to equality of health outcomes for all.
  • Ability and commitment to ensure successful outcomes for clients.
  • Understanding of community development.
  • Good knowledge of health, housing, social welfare rights and entitlements.
  • Understanding of how to develop information resources.
  • Good communication skills.
  • Computer literate (Microsoft Word, E-mail, and databases).
  • Initiative, energy and ability to drive development of HIAC.
  • Fluency in written and spoken English, and fluency in one of the following languages Polish, Mandarin, Romanian,French, Arabic, Swahili or any other non-European language.

Specific Skills/Task Orientation Required

  • Proven ability and commitment to follow through on and complete tasks.
  • Ability to work as part of a team; particularly ensuring staff team has necessary information to enable successful outcomes for clients.
  • Commitment to complete delegated tasks on schedule and to satisfactory level.
  • Commitment to good quality record keeping and administration of client files.
  • Ability and commitment to using Cairde’s data gathering system.
  • Good quality of preparedness for staff supervision and appraisal.

Line Manager

Project Line Manager: Community Development and Policy Coordinator

Supervision and Appraisal Line manager: Chief Executive Officer

Salary Scale: HSE Northern Area Project Worker Scale Point

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