All public entities/institutions should be prepared to deal with unannounced visitors/critiques.  This may be the only way to get improvements in service.

With concerns about hospitals who provide poor service such as operating on the wrong limb, I think that teaching adult literacy students to visit and critique health facilties is a great idea.

In fact an area where adult lliteracy teachers and students may find a role in health literacy  is "community-campus partnerships" or "community based research."  Many years ago while working on a cancer communications project with NCI, I found excellent focus group participants  from ESL classes
 
If KQED in the SF Bay Area can published a list of preferred physicians, comprised of providers that other physicians think are exemplary, then why can't adult literacy classes do the same for exemplary or not so exemplary health care facilties.

Bertie Mo, Ph.D., MPH

Marg Rose <bcmrose at telus.net> wrote: When we met with health care workers for workshops, A colleague and I showed
the 15 minute video that is part of the Literacy Audit Kit (produced by
Literacy Alberta and described at
http://www.literacy-alberta.ca/resource/auditkit/audktpg1.htm). The $80.00
kit involves a video and presentation fact sheets and checklists and
questionnaires that you can administer for your own operations or for taking
out to community groups, to help them to build literacy-friendly
environments.Scenarios played out by learners in the video show the effects
of welcoming environments, plain language, and supportive social services
interviews  on clients in employment and health care settings.

After viewing this video, a graduate student who worked on our research team
suggested that she and learners could go into health care settings and test
out how the learners  would be treated, what kind of handouts they would be
given, etc. The interaction would be analyzed, and then the literacy program
and learners could send the site director/staff a "report" with an
invitation to partner on improving or maintaining best practices.

This idea seems a bit controversial and like "spying", and has a  feisty
edge to it, but I do like the idea of learners speaking up for their rights
and educating host organizations in a collaborative way. Combined with the
"Ask me three" materials, it makes a compelling package. What do others
think?

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