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By Rabia Najmi

highly trained individuals

Op-ed: Alberta’s health overhaul needs a human connector: Community Health Workers

Apr 22, 2025 | 10:12 AM

Alberta’s health care system is undergoing a major transformation. The province is moving away from a centralized Alberta Health Services model and creating four new provincial health agencies focused on acute care, primary care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction. The government promises this refocused structure will improve access, streamline care, and restore local decision-making.

But decentralizing care is not the same as making it accessible—especially for vulnerable populations. Without planning deliberately for those at the margins, this transition could reinforce, rather than reduce, existing health inequities. We need a mechanism to connect people to care across these new silos. One solution already exists: Community Health Workers.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are trained individuals from the communities they serve—whether Indigenous, immigrant, rural, or low-income. They help peers navigate services, understand care plans, access resources, and advocate for their needs. They are translators, connectors, educators, and trust builders. In a system soon to be divided into four agencies, we need that kind of glue more than ever.

The new Health Plan emphasizes local decision-making and better alignment with community needs. This is the ideal time to scale up CHWs—not as a side project, but as a core part of the system. Each agency could embed CHW teams trained to support priority populations, integrated into service delivery, care transitions, and community feedback loops.

Importantly, CHWs can serve as horizontal linkages across the pillars. While each agency will have its own focus, Albertans don’t live in silos. Health issues are intertwined—mental health with housing, chronic illness with food insecurity, addiction with trauma. Without built-in collaboration, people will face a fragmented system. CHWs can act as cross-pillar navigators, promoting holistic, person-centered care.

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Some may argue that decentralizing care will naturally improve coordination. But structure doesn’t create connection—people do. Coordination must be designed intentionally, and CHWs are positioned to make that happen in real time, in real communities.

Alberta already has examples: Indigenous health liaisons, peer navigators, and cultural brokers in immigrant communities. But from my experience, these efforts often fall short without people who understand the realities of those they support.

Rabia Najmi is a Red Deer resident and public health doctoral candidate at Tulane University.

In 2016, while working with MAPS Alberta Capital Region to support Syrian refugees, we created manuals and hosted events to help newcomers navigate local systems. On paper, it was comprehensive. But many couldn’t access basic services. One man said, “We want to go back to Syria—this is scarier.” At the time, I was also a recent immigrant, having arrived in Canada just three years earlier. I was only able to help because they could relate to me. As a Pakistani Muslim woman, we shared faith, culture, and just enough language to build trust. That connection didn’t come from information—it came from identity.

CHWs offer that kind of trust, scaled. With the right training and system integration, they bring not only care coordination, but authentic cultural proximity—something no manual or referral system can replicate.

CHW models improve access, trust, and outcomes across contexts—from U.S. urban neighbourhoods to rural South Africa and Brazil. They reduce emergency visits, enhance chronic disease management, and boost preventive care uptake, especially among populations facing systemic barriers.

Some may wonder if CHWs are necessary, given that Alberta already has health promotion facilitators. But the difference is profound. Health promotion staff are trained professionals who work at the population level—designing programs, supporting policy, and partnering with communities. CHWs are embedded in people’s daily lives. They walk clients to appointments, translate instructions, and help access food, housing, or culturally safe care. Their strength isn’t their title—it’s their connection. Rather than duplicate public health efforts, CHWs extend their reach to those who are often left behind.

Health reform isn’t just about cost savings or quicker surgeries—it’s about creating a system where everyone can find a way in. Embedding CHWs into the pillar structure supports Alberta’s 2024–2027 Health Plan goals: improved access, equity, local solutions, and system-wide coordination. Let’s make sure this transformation doesn’t just change how we deliver care—but how we connect with those who need it most.

Alberta’s reform creates the structure. Community Health Workers can bring the soul—and the connections.

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Rabia Najmi is a Red Deer resident and public health doctoral candidate at Tulane University.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.