When Letty Padilla talks about her work as a community health ambassador, she keeps coming back to one thing: people.
After retiring from a 23-year career serving people living with HIV, Padilla could have stepped away from community work. Instead, she visits health fairs, senior centers, neighborhood gatherings, and community events to talk with residents about nutrition, cancer prevention, mental wellness, and other health issues. She takes blood pressure readings, distributes materials in English and Spanish, and helps make overwhelming information easier to understand.
"What I enjoy the most is coming out and talking to people," she said. "This is what I do."
She is not alone.
Spend time with the community health ambassadors of the Combined Entity of Common Ground Health-Finger Lakes Performing Provider System-Rochester RHIO and a pattern emerges. Many have spent decades working in healthcare, public health, or human services. Others joined through churches, community organizations, or personal experiences with illness and loss. What unites them is a commitment to helping people live healthier lives.
That commitment is at the heart of the Ambassador Program, which trains and supports trusted community members as health educators, advocates, and connectors throughout the region.
“The Ambassador Program is about connecting with the community, providing education on how to access resources, and building trusted relationships so that people feel that they're walking away with credible information. That helps them make their own informed decisions about their health,” says Community Wellness Project Manager Patricia Cathey, who runs the program.
Cathey says ambassadors help ensure health information reaches people in a way that feels personal, relatable, and trustworthy. "Without ambassadors, you're really not circulating information in a personal way." The personal touch builds trust, and, she says, confidence. “They’re providing education on a level where community members know that they can ask questions and seek understanding, get a second opinion, or even choose to switch doctors, and not just take doctors at their word. It gives them a voice.”
Ambassadors serve in several capacities across the program, including roles with Common Ground Health, Wilmot Cancer Institute, University of Rochester Medicine’s Department of Surgery’s Peripheral Artery Disease project, the Senior Adult Community Engagement initiative, and the Faith and Healthy Lifestyle Project. Some take on two or three roles, so the groups and their work often overlap. Together, they address a reality healthcare providers know well: health is shaped by much more than a single appointment.
Transportation barriers, housing instability, food insecurity, social isolation, and a complex healthcare system can all make it harder to get care. People also encounter health information through social media and conversations with family and friends. Sometimes, they need more than information. They need someone they trust.
That's where community health ambassadors come in.
At health fairs, neighborhood and church events, workshops, and in one-on-one conversations, ambassadors bring health information and resources directly to where people gather. They help residents understand preventive care, access screenings, connect with services, and take steps toward better health.
But trusted messengers need support, too.
Behind those conversations is training and continuing education from staff and partners. Ambassadors learn about cancer prevention, stroke awareness, blood pressure management, CPR, suicide prevention, and health communication, with specialized training through partners such as Wilmot Cancer Institute and University of Rochester Medicine.
That support gives ambassadors current information, practical resources, and the confidence to connect community members with appropriate services.
For Sarah Merritt, program director for the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement at Wilmot Cancer Institute, training combined with lived experience makes ambassadors essential to Wilmot’s outreach.
The partnership grew from COVID-19 outreach into a broader effort to bring cancer education, prevention, and screening information into the community. “I consider all the ambassadors part of our outreach team,” Merritt said. “They are the crux of it.”
The partnership produces measurable results. In 2025, community health ambassadors supported 111 Wilmot outreach events reaching 5,722 people and completed 278 health assessments to identify potential screening needs. Thirty-five people were connected with screenings.
“Health literacy starts with understanding where healthcare starts,” she said. “It’s not just waiting until you have something wrong. It’s being proactive.” Ambassadors begin those conversations in the community, helping people understand their options, ask questions, and take the next step toward preventive care.
For Catherine Galvin, caring for others has been a lifelong vocation.
Galvin has worked in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare settings since age 19. Today, she works in gynecologic oncology and serves as a Wilmot Cancer Institute ambassador, educating residents about cancer prevention and screening.
"What drives me is just taking care of people," Galvin said. "It's my passion."
She remembers one community member who returned after taking part in a smoking cessation effort.
"He said, 'We quit smoking,'" she recalled. "That was really good for me."
For Clara Harrell, the work is personal. Diagnosed with cancer at 19, she knows how fear can keep people from seeking care. In the community, she often meets people who avoid doctors’ offices or delay screenings because they fear what they may learn.
"A lot of times people are afraid to go to the hospital," Harrell said. "I think by us being in the community, making them aware of how important it is, it makes them start thinking about it."
Ambassadors do not replace healthcare professionals. They extend and reinforce the work that happens in clinical settings.
Monica Glover sees this through her blood pressure outreach. A longtime advocate in her church community, she often speaks with people who have been diagnosed with hypertension but struggle to manage it. Because she also lives with high blood pressure, she can pair educational materials and practical advice with personal experience.
"They can actually see it for themselves and not just rely on what the doctor was saying," she said.
John Rutledge, who works in HIV prevention and outreach, joined the Ambassador Program during the COVID-19 pandemic, when misinformation and mistrust complicated public health efforts. The experience underscored the need for trusted community members who can answer questions, listen without judgment, and help people make informed decisions.
Ambassadors also bring something important back to the healthcare system: insight.
Their surveys, conversations, and outreach reveal emerging concerns and barriers, helping ensure residents’ experiences inform broader efforts to improve community health and well-being.
Merritt said ambassadors have helped Wilmot better understand language, transportation, cultural, and trust-related barriers to care and research participation. Their lived experience helps partners tailor outreach, improve follow-up, and approach community conversations with greater understanding.
For Audrey Alexander, listening may be the most important part of the work. After a career in human resources, she became an ambassador through her church’s healthy lifestyle ministry. Years of outreach have shown her how often people struggle simply because they do not know what resources are available.
"You don't know what you don't know," she said.
Her approach is simple. "Let them know that there's somebody here that will help you," she said. "If we don't know everything, we're going to steer you to the right person."
Supported by training, partnerships, and ongoing guidance, ambassadors bridge the gap between healthcare providers and communities. They make health information more accessible, encourage prevention, and help residents navigate a path toward better health.
Their work happens one reassuring conversation at a time. One blood pressure check. One screening reminder. One referral. Across their varied backgrounds, the ambassadors share a lifelong commitment to caring for others.
For them, helping others is not simply about working in the community. It's who they are.