Return-Path: <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g2LHVuu03393; Thu, 21 Mar 2002 12:31:56 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 12:31:56 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <DAV353TbhyF2fPmsSVh0000bd5f@hotmail.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "KRISTINA E ANDERSON" <keander2@hotmail.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:3622] Re: HEALTH Q&A FROM NCLE X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 3779 Lines: 84 Thank you, Dora, for citing this example. What we can do as health literacy advocates is to continue raising awareness of these challenges inside and outside our institutions. When we raise a person's awareness, we raise their compassion and understanding. I train volunteers who read to children in our clinic waiting rooms, and during the training, I show a small portion of the patient/provider interactions on the AMA video "You can't tell by looking." On their feedback forms, the volunteers always say that they had no idea how difficult life can be for people with low literacy skills--it's a real eye opener for them. Thanks for your post. Kristina ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dora Johnson" <dora@cal.org> To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 8:40 AM Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:3621] HEALTH Q&A FROM NCLE > Miriam Burt of our staff sent this to various lists and I thought I'd share it with the NIFL-Health list. > > Lately I've been having trouble with my right knee;it is swollen and painful. In the process of negotiating services from my managed care system about this in the last two weeks I have: > 1. called the clinic 7 times; > 2. been seen by two different urgent care specialists; > 3. had an X-ray at the clinic; > 4. had an MRI at the hospital; > 5. been put on hold for more than 45 minutes total; > 6. read and signed 6 different forms; > 7. written 2 checks for my insurance co-pay; > 7. lost several hours of work time; > 8. been given the wrong phone number for the specialist; > 9. been told by one doctor to use heat; > 10. been told by another to ice the knee; > 11. waited in various lobbies and rooms for more than 5 hours; and > 12. received services for close to 1 hour (amount of time is artificially high because MRI took 35 minutes). > I will finally see the specialist tomorrow, two weeks after beginning the odyssey. > > So what's the point of the above list? The difficulties I have experienced navigating the health care system have required using problem solving, language, and literacy skills. As hard as this has been for me, it would have been so much harder if I couldn't read or write with ease. And what if I couldn't understand what was said to me on the phone in the voice mail system? By the receptionists? By the doctors? By the nurses and technicians? By the guard in the lobby of the hospital? What if I didn't have the English language skills to ask for and get the correct phone number when I have been given the wrong one initially? Or to ask to use the phone when I see that I will be unable to pick up my daughter on time from her after school care and need to get someone else to do it? > > What can we as adult ESL educators do to help learners? The new Q & A from NCLE on Health Literacy and Adult English Language Learners by Kate Singleton is available from NCLE or on our Web site at http://www.cal.org/ncle/digests/healthlitQA.htm. It gives suggestions for improving health literacy instruction for ESL learners and includes a annotated list of resources on the topic. Additional resources are available on NCLE's Web site in the annotated bibliography of health literacy for adult English language learners > http://www.cal.org/ncle/healthbib.htm > Finally, there is a Web collection, also by Kate Singleton, on using picture stories for adult ESL health literacy. The picture stories and instructions for their use can be downloaded at http://www.cal.org/ncle/health/ > > Dora Johnson > Research Associate > National Center for ESL Literacy Education > Center for Applied Linguistics > 4646 40th Street, NW > Washington, DC 20016-1859 > Telephone: 202-362-0700 > Fax: 202-363-7204 > E-mail: dora@cal.org > Web site: www.cal.org/ncle > > > > >
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