Return-Path: <root> Received: (from root@localhost) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) id f7VBrd809781 for health-archive@nifl.gov; Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:53:39 -0400 (EDT) Resent-Message-Id: <200108311153.f7VBrd809781@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from smtp-out.netins.net (ins22.netins.net [167.142.225.22]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id f37NIHg14683 for <nifl-health@nifl.gov>; Sat, 7 Apr 2001 19:18:17 -0400 (EDT) Received: from netins.net (glfd-03-188.dialup.netins.net [216.248.93.1]) by smtp-out.netins.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA01841; Sat, 7 Apr 2001 18:18:08 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <3ACF9F62.9116AD59@netins.net> Date: Sat, 07 Apr 2001 18:14:42 -0500 From: Archie Willard <millard@netins.net> Reply-To: millard@netins.net X-Sender: "Archie Willard" <millard@smtp.netins.net> (Unverified) X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en]C-gatewaynet (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en To: nifl-health@nifl.gov Subject: Re: [NIFL-HEALTH:2987] Re: Health and literacy collaborations References: <p0500190bb6f39f2519e0@[146.186.96.31]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Resent-From: root@literacy.nifl.gov Resent-Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:53:39 -0400 Resent-To: health-archive@nifl.gov Status: O Content-Length: 3871 Lines: 84 The past year I have had the opportunity to meet and work with the American Medical Association Foundation. I feel they are very aware of the literacy problems in our country and they are working hard for answers and want to bring understanding about health-literacy problems to all health professionals. I have also had the opportunity to communicate with some doctors who are dedicated to bringing health-literacy awareness to others, looking for answers from the literacy field, and working on many different health-literacy projects. On March 3, at the AMA 2001 National Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, I had the opportunity to present with Herman I. Abromowitz, MD and Terry Davis, PhD (Red Flags for Low Health Literacy). Physicians, residents and medical students attended this session. The message was that health illiteracy is a significant barrier to quality health care. The hope of this presentation was that the “participants will become ambassadors for this program and encourage their constituencies to develop programs that will help other physicians and health care professionals learn what they can do to help patients better understand health information.” There was good media coverage on the local and national levels. Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company has been holding workshops and has been working with the Plain English people to help the writers of their materials to write on a “plain English” level. Although we can always see that more should be done, I feel that medical professionals are doing good work in the health-literacy area. I also feel that health-literacy can bring more awareness to illiteracy in our country. Thanks, Archie Willard Adult Learner President Emeritus, VALUE Barb Van Horn wrote: > Dear health literacy subscribers, > > Debbie Yoho wrote: > >...I was observing that ...there needs to be more dialog between > >health and literacy practitioners, and that health practioners > >should turn to literacy folk to collaborate. What I notice is > >literacy folk incorporating health information into literacy > >instructon, and health folk learning about the literacy problem and > >trying to write easier to read, but often neither effort involves > >much collaboration beween the two. What do you think about this? > > I agree with Debby's observation. I also notice that some health > professionals have the impression that the adult basic and literacy > education system has limited value because programs serve a small > percentage of adults in need of literacy services -- and because it's > perceived that adults attend these for very short periods of time. > Therefore, why should health professionals bother working with them... > > As a literacy professional, I was concerned about this perception. > Perhaps, it isn't shared by that many health professionals. If this > is a common perception about adult literacy services; however, we > need to address it if we expect to partner with health professionals > to improve adults' health knowledge and build the underlying basic > (e.g., reading, listening, speaking) and higher order (e.g., > problem-solving, decision-making, metacogntivie) skills that will > assist adults' in being more able to function effectively within the > health care system. > > -- > ****************** > Barbara Van Horn > NIFL-WORKPLACE List Co-Moderator > Co-Director, Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy > Co-Director, Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy > College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University > 102 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16802-3202 > Phone: 814-865-5876 Fax: 814-863-6108 > E-mail: BLV1@PSU.EDU > > "Moving adult literacy from the Margins to the Mainstream" -- Archie Willard Eagle Grove, IA 50533 millard@netins.net PHN - 515-448-3213 FAX - 515-448-3480 URL - http://207.28.234.137/archiew.html
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