The Lay Health Promoter Program at Cross-Over Health Center is teaching residents of Richmond’s inner city everything from how to read a thermometer, to how to take a person’s blood pressure.

Each “Lay Health Promoter” completes a 40-hour course over a 10-week period. Upon graduation, participants receive a blood pressure cuff and other basic tools to use in their neighborhood outreach efforts.

Since the program’s inception in 1997, more than 30 lay health promoter courses have been conducted in medically high risk locations, including the women’s section of the City Jail.

In addition to being effective “health care ambassadors” in their neighborhoods, the program’s 239 graduates (1997-2000) report significant changes in their own lives. 79% are eating healthier and 35% are exercising more regularly.

The Lay Health Promoter Program has not only made a lasting difference in the lives of its graduates, it has also demonstrated a true entrepreneurial spirit. It has been replicated in Spanish; has received a prestigious grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and has more than doubled its community support since graduating from Virginia Health Care Foundation’s funding two years.

2007: CHIP of Roanoke

2006: Mental Health Association of the New River Valley

2005: Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems, Inc.

2004: Olde Town Medical Center, Williamsburg

2003: Eastern VA Telemedicine Network, Norfolk

2002: Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic, Fredericksburg

2001: Northern Virginia Dental Clinic

2000: Lay Health Promoter Program of Cross-Over Health Center