Wandy Hernandez, AA, CD (DONA), CLC, CCE
Program Director
A nationally recognized speaker and advocate for community health workers, Wandy Hernandez trains and advocates for both men and women, drawing on over 15 years of experience working in the community. She has been a bilingual and bi-cultural trainer at HealthConnect One since 1999, and is a Certified Lactation Counselor, a DONA-Certified Doula Trainer and a Certified Childbirth Educator.
Originally trained as a breastfeeding peer counselor by HC One (when it was called Chicago Health Connection), she worked first as a peer counselor at Alivio Medical Center, and was subsequently hired as a home visitor in their Parents Too Soon Program. She then participated in HC One's doula training, and became a doula at Alivio in the Chicago Doula Project in 1997.
A national leader in the community health worker movement, Wandy recently completed two years as President of the National Lay Health Workers/Promotores Network, and currently serves on the steering committee of the American Association of Community Health Workers. In July 2011, Ms. Hernandez was announced as the incoming Chair-Elect of the American Public Health Association's CHW Section.
