Dear Friends,
This month our newsletter is focusing on health literacy. Many people in this country have very little knowledge about managing and preventing disease. For example, as the incidence of diabetes continues to rise in this country, we see a strong correlation between a lack of knowledge about healthy food choices, a lack of access to healthy foods, and diabetes diagnoses. A low level of health literacy is often seen in areas where people live in poverty and have little formal education. To achieve health equity, health literacy is imperative.
The limited level of health literacy across all segments of our population is a serious and growing problem that must be addressed by investing in our public health infrastructure, using community resources to enhance health knowledge, and developing strategies to implement a structure that supports healthy living.
Our editorial, written this month by HIGN Special Projects Manager, Cynthia Chong, describes an approach to increase health literacy in the community.
Happy Fall!
Best,
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Tara A. Cortes, PhD, RN, FAAN |
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Health Literacy and Community-Based Education
Cynthia Chong, MPA
HIGN
Health literacy is a term we’ve all heard, but what does it really mean? How does it relate to better health outcomes for older adults? There are two forms of health literacy. Personal health literacy is an individual's ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions. Organizational health literacy focuses on an organization equitably enabling individuals to gain personal health literacy. The latter reflects the need for a transparent and informative healthcare system. This importance is even more salient in vulnerable populations like older adults and their families who are often unaware that they have a voice.
There is a strong connection between health literacy, effective health services and positive health outcomes. How do we increase health literacy to improve health outcomes for older adults? Providers can use clear written and verbal language with patients, and use educational models, such as teach-back. Community health providers and organizations can provide health education through community centers, churches and other areas that are accessible to community dwelling older adults. One of HIGN’s current projects is having NYU Meyers nursing students lead health education workshops in senior centers. The students present age-related topics from our existing Volunteer Health Corps materials and attendees are encouraged to actively participate. The students can also train older adults who are interested in becoming Trusted Messengers to provide reliable, evidence-based health information to peers, friends and family. This can be done casually, or the messengers can lead formal health workshops in the community.
Empowering people with health literacy needs to be a priority in our public health system. Community-based organizations provide a perfect environment for addressing healthy behaviors, chronic disease management and social determinant needs for health promotion. As public health ambassadors, health professionals must be prepared to provide health literacy education to their care recipients.
A Health Literacy Report: Analysis of 2016 BRFSS Health Literacy Data (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2018)
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Celebrating 25 years of HIGN Leadership |
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The current and former leaders of HIGN met to celebrate Prof. Ab Brody being installed as the Mathy Mezey Endowed Chair in Geriatric Nursing.
Pictured from left to right: Mathy Mezey, Ab Brody, Tara Cortes and Terry Fulmer.
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October is Health Literacy Month |
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October is Health Literacy Month, which emphasizes the importance of making health information easy to understand and making health systems easy for people to navigate.
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month |
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Aging is a risk factor for breast cancer, so regular screening is vital to early detection and getting timely quality care.
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Community Health Education:
Instructor Manuals and Presentation Slides
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HIGN created 17 one-hour workshops for older adults on disease prevention and management of chronic conditions. These workshops were developed to increase health literacy in older adults and enable them to be active partners in managing their own wellness with their healthcare providers. The workshops are a mix of didactic training and skill building activities. Workshops materials include a presentation and an accompanying instructor manual which includes icebreakers, points of emphasis, and prompts to guide the conversation.
Workshop materials are free and can be accessed by the links below:
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New HIGN Affiliated Faculty
Prof. Kevin Hook is an NYU Meyers Clinical Assistant Professor. He's an adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner with interests in palliative care, organizational and medical ethics, and nursing leadership and innovation. Dr. Hook brings a wealth of leadership experience in evidence-based programming to initiate transitional care, palliative care, and policy analysis and planning regarding the care of older adults.
Prof. Komal Murali re-joins NYU Meyers as an Assistant Professor. She was previously a part of the HIGN and NYU Meyers family for several years as a predoctoral fellow. As a faculty member, Dr. Murali aims to build a program of research focused on developing innovative and culturally sensitive end-of-life care for seriously ill persons living with dementia in the home healthcare setting. Dr. Murali’s passion for end-of-life care stems from nearly a decade of clinical practice in neuroscience and medical critical care.
We welcome Profs. Hook and Murali and look forward to their collaborations!
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HIGN Highlights
Prof. Selena Gilles received the Global Community Service Award from HEAL Haiti.
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