Community Health Coach class trains students to lead their community to positive health

The last year has shown that existing, underlying health issues can make an already harmful pandemic even more devastating for some communities. Our region suffers from a 13 percent higher rate of heart disease than the rest of North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Institute of Medicine.

The Community Health Coach course is designed to empower individuals to serve as an advocate within their community such as: church, professional, social, civic and business organizations. The Community Health Coach will learn to identify health and medical issues and to guide at risk individuals to seek health services. Individuals will learn to identify potential health concerns and to encourage results through healthy changes. Instructional topics include: risk factors and disease complications; nutrition and cardiovascular disease; tobacco use; nutrition; community outreach; physical activity and stress management. Upon completion of program individuals are encouraged to host a wellness fair for their community and will receive $100 towards expenses of the wellness fair.

The class costs $200 and starts on June 3, running through August 2 on Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Call 252-940-6375 or email continuingeducation@beaufortccc.edu to sign up.