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 j8C1OGG10949; Sun, 11 Sep 2005 21:24:16 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 21:24:16 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <4324D7C0.8020504@goldfieldaccess.net> 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: Archie Willard <millard@goldfieldaccess.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:4804] 2005 Iowa New Readers Health and Literacy Conference X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Status: O Content-Length: 2800 Lines: 70 The 2005 Iowa New Readers Health and Literacy Conference is over. This is a state conference organized by former or active literacy students. We have had 16 conferences. Eight different states were represented and two people from the UK attended. We had a powerful group of presenters at the conference. We learned a lot from each other, but the biggest thing we talked about was how to get the best medical care when we have so much trouble communicating with each other. We the New Readers of Iowa have become health literacy advocates and if we are going to help solve health literacy problems we all need to become a health literacy family. At this conference we learned about Ask Me 3 and some questions we should be asking. What each of us is seeking is to build a partnership with our own medical providers and to work together to get the best medical care we can receive. At the 2004 New Readers of Iowa Health and Literacy Conference we made a Health Literacy Statement to the health field. Below is our 2005 conference’s addition to last year’s Health Literacy Statement. I hope you will read it and think about it. OUR MESSAGE: Many physicians often don’t recognize heath literacy problems. We ask the health professionals to take a look to the past when physicians took the time to talk to and listen to their patients and they were not rushing to get to the next patient. Health literacy issues have little to do with intelligence, desire, or capacity, but everything to do with the ability of healthcare professionals and patients to communicate clearly with one another. How much of what physicians say do patients understand? We ask them to speak to us in plain language. If needed, give us pictures, tapes, and videos to use to help us understand. For the most part, pamphlets are not all that useful for us. Tell us what is wrong, what needs to be done, and why it is important. Don’t assume we understand your directions. Have us repeat them back to you before we leave. How can the New Readers of Iowa and others work together with health professionals to make patient safety and health care better? Thank You, Archie Willard P.S. This was written by Sheila Ray, Asakis, MN. For the 2004 New Readers Conference, Des Moines, IA Who is a New Reader? A new reader comes in all sizes, ages and nationalities. A new reader is someone who didn’t find their way in reading when they were younger. A new reader is your mother, father, brother, sister and your cousin ... A new reader can be a friend. When a new reader finds their way to reading, that friend is the one with the big smile. A new reader is the one that finds their way to reading, and they find out how they really are. A new reader is ME. -- Archie Willard URL - http://www.readiowa.org/archiew.html
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