Health What?

Welcome to my new blog! So for those of you who know me, you have a vague idea of what health literacy is. For those of you who are still struggling to figure out what Health Literacy, this blog is for you! Upcoming blogs will focus on how to improve your health literacy and hopefully get you thinking about how to improve your health as well.

In the meantime, Health What???

Health Literacy is a set of skills and knowledge that people need to navigate the health care system, make healthy choices, and respond appropriately in a public health crisis. If you have ever tried to decide between two different medical treatments, forgotten to take your medications, wished you understood what your doctor was saying, or tried to live healthier but got confused by the research out there, your health literacy skills need improvement. Don't be insulted though, our federal government estimates only 12% of English speaking Americans are fully health literate. Factor in the 20% of Americans who do not speak English at home, and the fact that skills related to public health emergencies were not included in this estimate, we are really taking about only 3-4% of Americans being fully health literate. This is a real crisis in our health care system!

So if our government knows how bad it is, what's being done to improve health literacy skills in Americans? Sadly,very little. Our medical system has known that people aren't as health literate as they should be since the 1980s when AIDS and Breast Cancer patients both began demanding more information about treatments and their care. The medical system has slowly responded to the lack of health literacy skills, by providing information in easier to read formats, speaking slowly, encouraging patients to ask questions, and using techniques like the teach back method to ensure the patient understands what is going on. None of these things however, teach the patients the health literacy skills they need to be successful. It's like saying Johnny Can't Read, so dumb down the curriculum instead of teaching Johnny to read!

As a public health educator, with a history of special education and designing training programs, it didn't take me long to identify the need to teach people these skills. So, after months of research on what the skills are that the medical field feels is lacking, I designed a comprehensive program called "Health Literacy and You" to teach patients how to be fully health literate, as well as to teach providers how to be better communicators. As word has spread through the Capital District, I am finding more and more people who are anxious to learn these skills and as a result live a healthier life.

So now that you have an idea what Health Literacy means, where are you struggling with these skills? What topics do you wish you understood better, in order to live a healthier life? Share your thoughts and I can generate blogs to answer those questions, because if you have them so do other people. In the meantime, choose to do something healthy today!