Individuals who hold the CHES® and MCHES® certifications have the versatility and skill sets to practice in many different career settings, across the country and even overseas. Job settings were identified in the 2020 Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis (HESPA II) include the following: Community/non-profit, Health Care/Hospitals, Government, School Health, Academia/Universities, and Business/Worksite.
Certified Health Education Specialists in the Government sector can hold such job titles as: Accreditation Coordinator, Prevention Specialist, Population Health Manager, Analyst, and Community Health Educator.
Job skills that may be included in this career setting can include:
- Needs assessments
- Implement/coordinate health events
- Public health program planning
- Grant writing
- PHAB accreditation
- Working closely with community organizations, coalitions, and public policy
- Write news releases and coordinate district media contacts and activities
- Public health emergencies
Meet Michael Hodges
(MHS, MS, CHES®, Health Director/Officer West Milford Health Department)
Michael has been a Certified Health Education Specialist for 12 years, and has also led the process to esatblish Bloomfield as New Jersey's first nationally accreditted health department, from the Public Health Accreidation Board (PHAB). His job duties have included:
- Developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence based population health education and promotion programs
- Developing and maintaining relationships with community partners, and ensuring the success of joint health improvement strategies
- Reaching program objectives and departmental goals, addressing public health issues of defined target groups by planning, implementing, and evaluating educational programs, developing criteria, and staffing
- Developing safety policies and communicable disease management programs designed to minimize impact and neutralize danger of public health threats
- Disseminating risk communications to interpret issues addressed by Health Department to public, delivering right message framed to elicit public understanding and response through news releases, feature articles, and other publicity programs
- Ensuring compliance with state regulations through quality inspections, safety audits, and thorough recordkeeping and reporting
Meet Chelsea Moxlow
(MPH, MCHES®: Health Promotion and Accreditation Coordinator)
Chelsea achieved her CHES® certification in 2009 and her MCHES® certification in 2015. Her job duties include:
- Support coalition efforts dealing with public policies and health issues
- Program planning and grant objectives
- Delivery of health education services to clients and staff
- Act as the Public Information Officer in the event of emergency
- Researches federal and state funding programs
- Grant writing
- Coordinate Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) accreditation process for department
Meet Rebecca Hollenbach
(CHES®: Analyst - Center for Health Equity at Louisville Metro Government)
Rebecca became a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) in April of 2016. She achieved recognition for obtaining the highest score in her exam cohort.
Her job role includes:
- Completing annual health equity reports
- Research methods, statistical analyses, longitudinal data analyses
- Writing manuscript for publication of results
- Communication plans utilizing analytics and social media strategies
- Program evaluation
Meet Rosalinda Medina
(BS, CHES®: Health Education & Prevention Specialist for the City of El Paso Department of Public Health, TX)
Rosalinda became a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) in April of 2013. Her job duties include:
- Tobacco prevention and control program planning
- Develop relevant goals and objectives, evaluate approaches
- Create sustainability plans
- Population needs assessments
Meet Andrea Jensen
(BS, CHES®: Environmental Health Educator for Utah Valley Health Department)
Andrea became a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) in 2011. Her daily responsibilities include:
- Coordinates and Asthma Home Visitation Program
- Health education program planning and delivery, including: asthma education, air quality education, radon awareness, healthy home education household hazardous waste disposal
- Needs assessment
- Suicide prevention deliverables/workshops
- Contributing editor for Allergy and Asthma Today magazine
- Open Airways instructor