October is National Health Literacy Month, and usually with health related observations I talk about what you can do to participate. However, this month is special because you are already participating. By reading blogs such as this one and being an active participant in the care of yourself or your loved ones. So this post is to celebrate you, and to provide you with the tools to promote health literacy in your community.
Thank You
First and foremost, thank you for practicing health literacy. It is important to know about your care, and any conditions that you have, and knowing warning signs of other conditions such as dementia so that you can be alert if any family members start presenting signs. However, individual health literacy is only one part of health literacy. Like media literacy or any other kind of literacy, it is a holistic part of a healthy society. In order to effectively promote it, we must promote it on a macro scale as well as on a micro scale.
Community Resources
For organizations that would like to promote health literacy, they can use the Health Literacy Online tool from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. There are numerous organizations that are dedicated to various disease education.
Health literacy is also a policy goal, so paying attention to government efforts will keep you apprised of the state of health literacy.
Written by Brigid Stakelum
