NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — The New Bedford Health Department held a health care worker awareness and appreciation event on Friday.

Community partners wanted to thank them for their work during the pandemic, as well as highlight the need for more advocacy, support, and workforce development in the health care field.

“We utilized community health workers to get the message out about COVID, and we want to uplift the workforce so that we can continue to use them to get the message out so we can best serve our community,” the health department’s acting director Stephanie Sloan said.

The department also announced it’s created a network to assess and serve the needs of community health care workers.