By Melissa Patrick
Ketnucky Health News
Most states do not have have an organization dedicated to health literacy, but Kentucky does, and it's spending 2017 re-branding itself and letting Kentuckians know what it offers.
Health Literacy Kentucky is a statewide coalition of volunteers who work toward improving the state's health outcomes through improved health literacy.
"Health literacy affects everyone and is critical in helping us make choices for the best health that we can -- for ourselves and for our family and friends," Charles Jackson, The Humana Foundation's consultant for the initiative, said in an interview with Kentucky Health News.
Jackson, who is also the head of the HLK steering committee, noted that the American Medical Association says "Health literacy is a stronger predictor of health than age, income and employment status, education or race."
HLK's website says the impact of low health literacy is well-documented. It says people with poor health literacy have overall poorer health, higher rates of emergency-department use, lower use of preventive services and increased difficulty managing their chronic conditions. It adds that poor health literacy cost the nation up to $238 billion every year.
HLK was founded in 2009 and has focused most of its past efforts and resources hosting an annual health literacy conference that largely targeted health care providers. But this year, Jackson said it's working to re-brand itself and increasing public awareness -- and it also has a new partner.
"Health literacy encompasses far more than just literacy. It represents an individual’s ability to obtain and use health information to make decisions," Williams said. "Through this partnership with Health Literacy Kentucky, the UK Center for Health Services Research can support efforts to work with patients, their family caregivers and community providers to address health literacy education and research."
Jackson noted that one of their first efforts as partners will be to conduct a heath-literacy needs assessment of health professionals to help inform future HLK strategies.
Another new initiative for the organization is its first Kentucky Health Literacy Award, of which it will soon call for nominations. The award will be presented at the Dec. 5 Kentuckiana Health Collaborative forum in Louisville, which will focus on health literacy. The results of the needs assessment survey will also be announced at this forum.
Elizabeth Edghill, who is also on HLK's steering committee, says the need for health literacy is "profound" for everyone.
"We need to recognize that it's not about education, it's not about income or language barriers," she said. "Those are all huge contributors and of course they can make one at higher risk for low health literacy, but I really think we have to use what we call a universal precaution approach. We need to assume that anyone can be having a low health literacy moment at any encounter and treat them respectfully and with good communication."
Edghill is a registered nurse who is the manager of refugee and immigrant services for Family Health Centers in Louisville. Along with a co-worker, she has initiated several health-literacy programs, including one for all of the center's patients; one that involves a patient advisory group that helps create better health related materials, and another that focuses on health-insurance literacy.
Asked how individuals could immediately improve their health literacy, Edghill said: "One of the most important ways to improve your health literacy is to find a way to record the information."
Edghill told a story illustrating how three people can hear the same health information from a health-care provider and leave with three different interpretations. She offered several suggestions on how to record information, including asking the provider if you can record the conversation; taking notes during the visit; taking someone with you to listen and take notes; or to make sure you understand the after-visit summary that is often provided before you leave the office.
Edghill has been named the 2017 Medi Star Dickinson Wright Nurse of the Year, an award she will receive Oct. 24 in Louisville.
Jackson said health departments and libraries are great resources to improve health literacy. "Those are the kind of resources we want people to feel comfortable using," he said.
He also noted some free online resources, which he said are important for areas with poor access to health care. They include "Learning About Diabetes;" "The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance;" and another for children who are overweight or obese called "Weigh2Rock."
Also, the HLK website offers resources for individuals and communities, a "tools for teaching" page, a free online course with continuing-education credits, and training for health-care providers.
Williams noted that the UK Center for Health Services Research was awarded a $4.5 million grant in July to identify and address the social determinants of health in 27 Appalachian counties and parts of Louisville Metro. He said that after determining the most vulnerable patients in these areas, the researchers will then identify their unmet social needs that contribute to poor health, like unstable housing or a lack of transportation, and then connect them with community resources to meet these unmet needs.
"This is related to health literacy," he said, "because these patients on their own don't have the health literacy skills to be able to find these resources which could help them personally, and that results in improved, overall health."
Ketnucky Health News
Most states do not have have an organization dedicated to health literacy, but Kentucky does, and it's spending 2017 re-branding itself and letting Kentuckians know what it offers.
Health Literacy Kentucky is a statewide coalition of volunteers who work toward improving the state's health outcomes through improved health literacy.
"Health literacy affects everyone and is critical in helping us make choices for the best health that we can -- for ourselves and for our family and friends," Charles Jackson, The Humana Foundation's consultant for the initiative, said in an interview with Kentucky Health News.
Jackson, who is also the head of the HLK steering committee, noted that the American Medical Association says "Health literacy is a stronger predictor of health than age, income and employment status, education or race."
HLK was founded in 2009 and has focused most of its past efforts and resources hosting an annual health literacy conference that largely targeted health care providers. But this year, Jackson said it's working to re-brand itself and increasing public awareness -- and it also has a new partner.
In June, HLK signed a memorandum of understanding with the Center for Health Service Research at the University of Kentucky, which will now house the organization and offer it administrative and operational support. Center Director Mark Williams, who has done research on health literacy since 1990, said they expect this partnership to be a "powerful" one.
"Health literacy encompasses far more than just literacy. It represents an individual’s ability to obtain and use health information to make decisions," Williams said. "Through this partnership with Health Literacy Kentucky, the UK Center for Health Services Research can support efforts to work with patients, their family caregivers and community providers to address health literacy education and research."
Jackson noted that one of their first efforts as partners will be to conduct a heath-literacy needs assessment of health professionals to help inform future HLK strategies.
Another new initiative for the organization is its first Kentucky Health Literacy Award, of which it will soon call for nominations. The award will be presented at the Dec. 5 Kentuckiana Health Collaborative forum in Louisville, which will focus on health literacy. The results of the needs assessment survey will also be announced at this forum.
Elizabeth Edghill, who is also on HLK's steering committee, says the need for health literacy is "profound" for everyone.
"We need to recognize that it's not about education, it's not about income or language barriers," she said. "Those are all huge contributors and of course they can make one at higher risk for low health literacy, but I really think we have to use what we call a universal precaution approach. We need to assume that anyone can be having a low health literacy moment at any encounter and treat them respectfully and with good communication."
Edghill is a registered nurse who is the manager of refugee and immigrant services for Family Health Centers in Louisville. Along with a co-worker, she has initiated several health-literacy programs, including one for all of the center's patients; one that involves a patient advisory group that helps create better health related materials, and another that focuses on health-insurance literacy.
Asked how individuals could immediately improve their health literacy, Edghill said: "One of the most important ways to improve your health literacy is to find a way to record the information."
Edghill told a story illustrating how three people can hear the same health information from a health-care provider and leave with three different interpretations. She offered several suggestions on how to record information, including asking the provider if you can record the conversation; taking notes during the visit; taking someone with you to listen and take notes; or to make sure you understand the after-visit summary that is often provided before you leave the office.
Edghill has been named the 2017 Medi Star Dickinson Wright Nurse of the Year, an award she will receive Oct. 24 in Louisville.
He also noted some free online resources, which he said are important for areas with poor access to health care. They include "Learning About Diabetes;" "The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance;" and another for children who are overweight or obese called "Weigh2Rock."
Also, the HLK website offers resources for individuals and communities, a "tools for teaching" page, a free online course with continuing-education credits, and training for health-care providers.
Williams noted that the UK Center for Health Services Research was awarded a $4.5 million grant in July to identify and address the social determinants of health in 27 Appalachian counties and parts of Louisville Metro. He said that after determining the most vulnerable patients in these areas, the researchers will then identify their unmet social needs that contribute to poor health, like unstable housing or a lack of transportation, and then connect them with community resources to meet these unmet needs.
"This is related to health literacy," he said, "because these patients on their own don't have the health literacy skills to be able to find these resources which could help them personally, and that results in improved, overall health."
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