Explore a diverse range of subjects in this extensive ‘Level 1’ training, covering the history and role of patient navigation, effective patient communication, health promotion, and professional conduct. Seize the chance to connect with fellow navigation professionals and broaden your network!

When 🗓️ 1/17/2024 – 3/13/2024
Join us for Live Learning Sessions 🕙 6 pm- 7 pm MT:

📆 January 17th – LLS 1 (Course Orientation)
📆 January 24th – LLS 2
📆 January 31st – LLS 3
📆 February 7th – LLS 4
📆 February 14th – No Class
📆 February 21st – LLS 5
📆 February 28th – LLS 6
📆 March 6th – LLS 7
📆 March 13th – LLS 8

Click Here to Register and Find out More

This initiative aims to empower healthcare professionals and community leaders with effective communication skills, addressing individual concerns and building trust in vaccinations. The funding not only underscores a commitment to health equity but also enables PNCT to bridge the gap between training and real-world vaccine communication practices.

PNCT’s mission is to create a healthier and more resilient society by fostering understanding and informed decision-making in communities across Colorado. This funding marks a significant step towards achieving this goal and reflects a collaborative effort to enhance community outreach in vaccine education.

For more information on our Vaccine Hesitancy trainings, please visit our registration form.

Currently, CDPHE is providing scholarships to individuals who are employed with an organization and are working on initiatives for specific chronic diseases. Scholarships will be in the form of reimbursement to a candidate’s employer after the employer pays for the cost of the assessment. For more information and to apply for the scholarship, please complete the form. Please note that the form must be completed by the employer, not the candidate, and the candidate must be registered for the assessment no fewer than 20 days prior to the assessment.

Health Navigator Skills Building/Assessment Review Session
PNTC will offer review sessions for those taking the assessment: one on May 25 and one on June 1, 2022, from 10 am-noon.

Register for May 25
Register for June 1

In these FREE interactive sessions, participants will:

– Learn what to expect during the state competency assessment
– Role play different patient scenarios to practice your skills
– Receive feedback from expert trainers and your peers
– Walk away with the confidence to tackle a wide range of situations

Patricia Valverde

A letter from the director: Navigators rose to the challenges of 2020; COVID-19 disparities continue

Welcome to 2021!

Happy New Year to our PNTC friends and partners.

Like you, we are excited to start a new year. We have been overwhelmed by the commitment and resiliency shown by patient navigators, community health workers, promotores de salud and others who strive to improve the health of our communities. As COVID-19 has ravaged through our communities, you quickly rose to the challenge of increased needs, changing information and new systems to access for support. PNTC wants to be that support for you so as needs change, the navigation workforce can rise to meet those needs.

COVID-19 has laid bare the existing disparities in our society that many of us have decried and work to eliminate over the years. We hope that the public, policy makers and leaders will address the structural issues, root causes, that are so obvious including: the technological divide, lack of paid sick leave, unaffordable housing, low pay for essential workers, racism, and differences in resources by school district and by school, among many other issues.

We are grateful that our funders, The Colorado Health Foundation, allowed for an early pivot to COVID-19 resources and information. Before we all experienced zoom fatigue, PNTC hosted virtual happy hours, self-care support and COVID-19-related webinars. Now, even as we offer our courses remotely, we hope to schedule in-person trainings later this year.

Please let us know how PNTC can support your shift to the “new normal.” We think that telehealth will be here to stay. How can navigators support the use of telehealth so that it does not become yet another way that under-resourced populations are left further behind in cutting-edge services? We believe that navigation can support populations with needs related to computer literacy and technology challenges.

PNTC is here to train and support you as you take on new duties and roles during this year.

Stay healthy and safe!

– Patricia Valverde, PNTC Director
– Erin Martinez, PNTC Manager
& all our trainers and partners

Dr. Valverde

I was supposed to be a lawyer. That was the plan. Probably because I like to argue and tend to feel very passionate about justice. But life didn’t turn out that way. As I review my 30 year career, I have identified my own personal axioms:

1) be open to new possibilities because one small decision can change the path forward positively;
2) family support is essential and a lifeline when facing challenges;
3) have a team of supporters and mentors to help light the way; and
                                       4) believe in yourself: your abilities and intelligence.

As I mentioned, I was ‘supposed’ to go to law school. It all changed when I lived and studied Spanish in Mexico. As Patricia Alvarez, a Mexican American and Güera yet unable to speak Spanish, I feared I would miss out on more fully understanding and embracing my heritage. So, after college off I go to Mexico City. I was privileged to take time between college and career and had in mind to stay longer and volunteer at a feminist organization. Instead, I stopped in Creel Chihuahua and saw a small mission clinic that served the Tarahumara indigenous people that live in the Copper Canyon. I was intrigued and asked if I could work there as a volunteer. For the next year and a half, I nursed children with malnutrition or tuberculosis back to health with my minimal skills from a bachelor’s degree in political science. I saw the immediate impact of healthcare on individuals and their families. I also was impressed by the remarkable strength and commitment of community members as they served as liaisons between the Mexican healthcare providers and the Tarahumara community.

It is always amazing how those seemingly small decisions change the trajectory of one’s life. First it was the Tarahumara clinic experience, and then it was a cancer patient navigation clinical trial 12 years later.

Returning from Mexico, I knew I wanted to work in healthcare but didn’t know how. I worked as a bilingual community health worker until realizing that a graduate degree in public health was my avenue to contribute to health improvements. In addition, I had promised my father months before he died that I would continue my education.

I find that much of my professional journey has been a series of reviewing what the people ‘above me’ accomplish and thinking, “I can do that” and benefitting from encouragement of peers. This occurred when deciding to pursue a master’s degree in public health and later a doctoral degree in health services research. I have tried to espouse an attitude where I believe that with additional skills, knowledge, tools and support, I have the ability to keep moving forward professionally.

Working in public health aligns with my commitment to social justice, a value that is both personal and professional. I found my focus in public health when I managed the clinical trial on cancer patient navigation fifteen years ago. I ran the study at a local public hospital which was one of 10 sites around the country. I interacted with the researchers regularly and those relationships have continued to today. That one patient navigator (PN) program, which didn’t even cover all of my salary (I juggled many other projects at the same time), has benefitted me for the remainder of my career- I now direct a PN training program, and I am co-chair of a national PN task group. I have loved the work I do in Patient Navigation- it is focused on achieving health equity, supporting patient centered care, and creating bridges between communities and the healthcare system. I feel incredibly fortunate that I am able to spend much of my time training, supporting and promoting the involvement of community members in public health and healthcare.

When I started managing the PN clinical trial, I also decided to go back to school and obtain a doctorate. It took me a long time to complete my doctorate while working with two young kids. I wouldn’t have finished without the daily help and encouragement of my husband and children. They have been my main cheerleaders. They remind me of my capabilities and the importance of public health work. My family has been involved since the early days including attending health fairs with me, going to back to school nights for outreach presentations, attending science conferences, community events, and helping prepare research materials at home.  Community service and biculturalism has been a family value as we worked to develop strong ties to family and friends in both the US and Mexico by living in Mexico and frequent visits.

My career has allowed me to explore different health topics using health navigation and community health workers to improve health outcomes. I have been honored to teach on graduate level topics that are of professional and personal interest. Currently I co-teach Latino Health, social and behavioral factors in health and I lead trainings on COVID 19 resource coordination. I contribute to research studies on improving access to substance use treatment, reducing Latinx youth vaping, promoting lung cancer screening, and increasing healthcare access for rural Native Americans veterans and more recently, combating human trafficking.  I am also a member of a statewide tobacco control committee that sets policies and distributes tobacco tax revenue and have been a Minority Health Advisory Commissioner in Colorado.

Lastly, I have received incredible backing from the Latino Research and Policy Center (LRPC), which provides help and mentorship for students, community leaders and faculty, all in pursuit of healthy and strong Latino communities. When I feel isolated in academia, as one of few Latinx faculty on campus, the LRPC has provided that home for shared interest, values and mission. Through the LRPC, I am now able to mentor the next generation of passionate Latinx public health professionals. Sometimes I wonder if I should have become a lawyer; but when my teenage daughter called me ‘a social justice warrior’, I knew I was on the right path.

The Patient Navigator Training Collaborative (PNTC) is following local, state and national guidance for implementing our courses during this time.  Current recommendations are to practice ‘”social distancing” as a way to slow down the spread of the virus.  To do this, PNTC is moving in person courses to a virtual environment to protect the health and safety of participants and instructors. We hope that we will be able to offer in-person courses during the summer.

If you are currently registered for an upcoming in-person course, you will receive an email asking if you would like to move to a virtual course or postpone your attendance to an in-person course later in the summer.

As clinical and public health professionals, patient navigators, community health workers and care coordinators have an important role during this epidemic.  We can help direct community members to credible information and reduce misinformation. The following websites provide up-to-date and accurate information. At PNTC, we hope that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe.

Training for Community Health Workers/Navigators

Click here to view a recording of a recent webinar “Dispelling the Myths and Rumors of the New Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).” It is geared toward a community health worker/navigator audience and has strategies to help dispel myths and rumors in the community and work with patients during this challenging time.  You just have to enter a name and email to access this FREE resource.

Credible sources of information on COVID-19

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 website

CDC COVID-19 fact sheets and posters

World Health Organization COVID-19 website

You state public health department (for example, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid  Services- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Partner Toolkit

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) – Statistics and Research (Our World in Data)

COVID-19 and Public Charge (relevant for immigrant patients)

The Public Charge rule does not restrict access to testing, screening, or treatment of communicable diseases, including COVID-19. In addition, the rule does not restrict access to vaccines for children or adults to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases. …To address the possibility that some aliens impacted by COVID-19 may be hesitant to seek necessary medical treatment or preventive services, US Citizenship and Immigration Services will neither consider testing, treatment, nor preventative care (including vaccines, if a vaccine becomes available) related to COVID-19 as part of a public charge inadmissibility determination, nor as related to the public benefit condition applicable to certain nonimmigrants seeking an extension of stay or change of status, even if such treatment is provided or paid for by one or more public benefits, as defined in the rule (e.g. federally funded Medicaid).   

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

“We are thrilled to be selected for funding,” says program director Patricia Valverde, PhD, MPH. “This new grant will allow us to continue to provide high quality trainings, without cost being a barrier to the navigation workforce.”

This funding allows the PNTC to offer financial assistance to individuals and programs, based on need. Full or partial scholarships are available. Applicants must be from Colorado and will still be responsible for a nominal fee of $25 per day of training ($75 for a 3-day Level 1) to help offset food and administrative costs.

Apply Here

Colorado residents automatically qualify for a discount; in-state rates are available during registration.

In addition, the grant allows PNTC to partner with the statewide Alliance of Colorado Community Health Workers, Patient Navigators and Promotores de Salud to offer a new interactive webinar series on barrier reduction, launching this spring. This series will offer navigators strategies to address barriers such as transportation, housing, behavioral health and more.

Other activities made possible by this grant include an expanded menu of online, self-paced learning modules and quarterly core course offerings (Level 1 and Care Coordination).

PNTC was awarded the grant through Trailhead Institute as its fiscal partner. The program is based out of the Center for Public Health Practice, Colorado School of Public Health, in Aurora, CO.

The PNTC has been a leader in training patient navigators since 2006 and offers a skills-based, interactive curriculum. To view upcoming courses, visit our course calendar.

• Commitment: Attend quarterly web meetings via Zoom web conferencing to provide input on program efforts
• Compensation: $200/year honorarium for your time
• Email Erin.Martinez@ucdenver.edu if interested

Patricia Valverde, PNTC director

Dear PNTC community,

It has been a busy spring and summer for the Patient Navigator Training Collaborative! We have delivered trainings all over Colorado (including Delta on the Western Slope and Alamosa in southern Colorado), traveled to South Dakota to do Motivational Interviewing workshops, and this week we are headed to Tennessee!

We wanted to give you an update on our program. As we have announced, our grant funding from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment ended June 30. We have implemented a fee-for-service model for upcoming courses. We have two Patient Navigation Fundamentals (Level 1) courses scheduled for fall (one in person and one online) and registration is open!

We are exploring ways to offer scholarships in the future. Right now, these courses are available for a fee. For the in-person course, Colorado navigators qualify for a discounted rate of $500; out-of-state participants are $750. The cost for the online course, launching Oct 1, is $550. The rates we are offering are greatly reduced from the actual cost of $1,500, so now is a great time to enroll. See registration details below.

We are excited to pilot an online version of our popular Care Coordination course this fall. Registration will open soon. We thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Patricia Valverde, PhD, MPH
Director

FALL COURSES

Level 1: Patient Navigation Fundamentals 
Topics in this comprehensive “Level 1” training include patient communication, health promotion, professional conduct and motivational interviewing.
When: Sept 17-19
Where: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
Register

Level 1: Patient Navigation Fundamentals Online
Learn patient navigation basics in a virtual environment! You will learn the history of patient navigation, client assessment skills, health promotion and patient communication.
When: Sept. 24-Nov. 16
Register

NEW! Level 2: Care Coordination for Patient Navigators Online 
You will be guided step-by-step to learn the basic skills and advanced strategies to enhance team-based care and client engagement for better health outcomes, patient safety, and workflow efficiency.
When: Oct. 13-Nov 9
More details

Check it out: www.instagram.com/patientnavtrain.
@patientnavtrain

The PNTC has taken the best elements from its in-person curriculum and transformed them to create a interactive, fun learning experience that you can do from the comfort of home or office. These online courses will include both self-paced activities that you can work around your schedule plus live learning sessions that allow you to connect to your classmates in real time, chat with instructors and practice important patient navigator skills.

Please note: We are committed to offering you the best online learning experience possible; however please keep in mind that these are pilot courses and as such, the time commitment may be more or less than estimated.

Level 1: Patient Navigator Fundamentals Online
Topics in this comprehensive “Level 1” training include patient communication, health promotion and professional conduct. This 7-week course is instructor-led and will include both online coursework (reading, quizzes, assignments) as well as Live Learning Sessions via Zoom.
When: May 14-June 30 with 5 Live Learning Zoom Sessions
Cost: $25 for Colorado navigators
Note: Colorado patient navigators receive priority for enrollment. Out-of-state participants will be accepted if there is space available.
Register

Advanced Health Behavior Change Online
Help your clients reach their goals! This online course provides tools and strategies to help clients around diet, exercise, diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention and control. This 4-week course includes both online coursework and live learning practice sessions. It is designed for patient navigators, care coordinators, clinical and non-clinical practice staff.
Prerequisite: Patient Navigator Level 1
When: April 30-May 25 with 3 Live Learning Zoom Sessions
Cost: $25 for Colorado navigators, $300 out of state
Register

Care Coordination for Patient Navigators Online
Registration details coming soon! This course will launch in late May.

There’s an exciting year ahead for the PNTC!

We would like to announce some exciting changes to the Patient Navigator Training Collaborative (PNTC)!

In 2018, the PNTC is expanding our online courses to include:

•  Level 1, Patient Navigator Fundamentals
• Care Coordination for Patient Navigators
• Advanced Health Behavior Change
• Patient Navigator Supervisor/Manager
• Basic Motivational Interviewing

We will continue to offer these online opportunities:

• Emotional and Social Aspects of Disease
• Motivational Interviewing Academy (MI coaching)
• Navigator Wellness Hour
• Motivational Interviewing Learning Lab
• Care Coordination ECHO

We will also offer these in-person courses:

• Level 1, Patient Navigator Fundamentals
• Fundamentos para el Navegador de Pacientes (Level 1 in Spanish)
• Care Coordination for Patient Navigators
• Advanced Health Literacy
• Advanced Health Behavior Change
• Motivational Interviewing

Please contact us for specialized services:

• Tailored workshops
• Evaluation services
• Program and research study consultations
• Supervisor/Manager coaching and support

New Course Pricing

The PNTC has benefited from many years of generous support from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, allowing us to offer courses at no cost to Colorado navigators. The funding support is ending June 30, 2018, but our services will continue.

In order to continue to offer these highly regarded courses, we will be instituting a fee scale.

As of March 1, 2018, we will be implementing a $25 nominal charge for all courses. After June 30, prices will increase. We will be announcing a fee scale in the coming months.

The Denver metro Level 1 planned for March 19-21 is being offered for a cost, which is $500 for in-state participants and $750 for out-of-state. Prices for Level 1 will increase to $750 for all participants after June 30 as we roll out our new pricing structure

Why should you or your employer pay for PNTC courses?

PNTC has been a national leader in developing and delivering courses for staff conducting navigation and care coordination across the US.

Our courses:

• Are based on adult learning principles to be fun and interactive
• Use the latest research and published materials on evidence-based methods and promising practices related to patient navigation and care coordination
• Employ trainers and curriculum developers from a range of disciplines including patient navigation, social work, nursing, public health and medicine
• Are led by PNTC trainers who work as patient navigators/care coordinators or supervise staff

What participants are saying

• 82% of participants felt “very well” or “well” prepared to perform health navigator skills after completing just the Level 1: Patient Navigator Fundamentals course
• Overall, 73% of course participants have made one or more practice changes after taking our courses

“I’ve been to many trainings, but never one as educational, fun and overall as GREAT as this one.” (Level 1)

“I have been to quite a few trainings of this nature and this was the most effective for me, as it was highly interactive and the trainers worked well as a team in order to supply skills needed to move forward as a PHN.” (Level 1)

We value your participation in our program and we are committed to continuing to offer high quality trainings.

Please let us know if you have questions. You can reach us at 303-724-7764 or by email at admin@patientnavigatortraining.org.

Be sure to check out the events calendar for the latest course listings.

Sincerely,

Patricia Valverde, PNTC Director
Erin Martinez, PNTC Manager
Jodi Drisko, PNTC Evaluator

Patient Navigators can practice with mock patients, receive one-on-one coaching 

The Patient Navigator Training Collaborative (PNTC) is offering a unique opportunity to help patient navigators improve their motivational interviewing (MI) skills. Participants in the “Motivational Interviewing Academy” this spring will receive three sessions to practice their skills with a mock patient and follow-up coaching.

“Motivational interviewing workshops are an excellent venue for learning a new way of ‘being’ with clients, but research clearly shows that workshops alone do not change practice,” said Kathie Garrett, PNTC MI Instructor. “To successfully integrate MI spirit and skills into your daily practice, you need guidance in the form of coding and coaching.”

The MI Academy will provide patient navigators  the unique opportunity to receive real time practice with mock patients, objective MI integrity coding feedback and one-on-one coaching.

“People pay hundreds of dollars for this type of training, but we are offering three practice and coaching sessions free of charge,” Garrett said.

What is Motivational Interviewing (MI) you ask?
MI is an evidence-based approach to help people make decisions, from quitting smoking to dietary changes to managing a chronic disease. MI is designed to address a patient’s ambivalence to change. This is a great skill to have in your toolbox to help improve patient outcomes.

By enrolling in this exciting opportunity, you will:

• Participate in three encounters with mock patients so you can practice using MI
• Have each session recorded and coded by an expert for various MI skills, to identify areas of strength and improvement
• Receive three one-on-one coaching sessions with a professional MI coach, offering personal feedback

Target Audience: Non-licensed (lay) health professionals/patient navigators working in Colorado.

The mock patient encounters will be scheduled in winter/spring 2018, starting in February. You will be able to schedule each 20-minute mock session and follow up coaching call at a time slot that works with your schedule. These sessions will be all done over the phone, so travel is not required.

Prerequisites: 

• Required: Level 1: Patient Navigator Fundamentals and Level 2: Advanced Motivational Interviewing
• Recommended prequisite: Advanced Health Behavior Change
• Been working as a patient navigator, health educator, community health worker or similar for at least 6 months
• Reside in Colorado
• Permission from your supervisor to participate
• Be a lay (non licensed) health professional

Questions? Email PNTC program manager Erin Martinez at erin.martinez@ucdenver.edu.