Hello:
Let me add a little bit on this questions, since I have not seen a response
from key public health organizations. It appears the Agency for Health
Research and Quality (AHRQ) has taken leadership in health literacy at the
national level. The Health Resources and Systems Administration (HRSA) has
some activities and a website. CDC has addressed this but does not have a
clear center Health Communication/Marketing?), nor does it have a specific
(categorical) funding mechanism to support the states or public health
research in this area (to my knowledge).  To answer the question, there are
existing organizations at the national level, closely working with CDC, of
state, county and municipal public health directors, and subgroups of
tobacco, chronic disease, and HIV/AIDS (NASTAD) officials (among others).
The other issue is that health literacy (and its social determinants:
education, information outlets) requires a multi-sectorial approach
(educational institutions, literacy organizations, libraries, media, etc.).

To make this happen, we will have to get our federal legislators to help,
and not expect much from many states (given the economic crisis). This would
require APHA and SOPHE to make this a policy priority (who begin to meet
next week). Unfortunately, health literacy could have been made a priority
with Recovery funds, but it seems most of the funding went to other health
priorities (and the big research institutions).

Jose O. Arrom



-- 
Jose O. Arrom, MA
Dissemination & Research Development Specialist
Midwest Latino Health Research, Training  and Policy Center
University of Illinois at Chicago
1640 W. Roosevelt Rd.#636 M/C 625
Chicago IL 60608
773-209-1817 O: 312-413-1836

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 8:37 AM, Yael Lipton <ylipton at chnnyc.org> wrote:


> Hi Everyone,

>

> I am relatively new to this list-serve but have enjoyed reading

> everyone's responses to date and have learned a lot.  While I don't have

> a clear idea of how incorporating health literacy into some sort of

> national movement could be done, I wanted to say that I think CHES

> (Certified Health Education Specialists) and experienced Health

> Educators could have a very important role to play in all of this.  We

> are precisely the professionals that have been trained to incorporate

> the literacy piece, the medical piece, the advocacy piece, etc.  While

> there are many others who do this work well also (like all of you), this

> might be a good group to tap into through either the credentialing

> organization of the CHES - National Commission for Health Education

> Credentialing or SOPHE (Society of Public Health Educators). Just a

> thought. Thanks.

>

> Yael S. Lipton, MPH, CHES

> Director of Health Education

> Community Healthcare Network

> 79 Madison Ave., 6th Floor

> New York, NY 10016

> 212-545-2418

> 646-312-0481 fax

> ylipton at chnnyc.org

> -----Original Message-----

> From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney

> Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:45 AM

> To: healthliteracy at nifl.gov

> Subject: [HealthLiteracy 3638] Re: Wednesday Question:State

> SupportforHealthLiteracy

>

> I see what you mean, Laura, but it wouldn't necessarily have to be a

> government-based organization. And whether is was or not, I think the

> two fiels of health and literacy should both be represented equally, and

> also have some presence of other fields.

>

> Regardless, what I really want to hear from you all out there is what

> kind of support would you HOPE FOR from such a structure? (And I hear

> that the perception of "serving two masters" should be avoided!)

>

> Julie

>

> Julie McKinney

> Health Literacy List Moderator

> World Education

> jmckinney at worlded.org

> >>> "Brown, Laura (LLU)" <ldbrown at llu.edu> 10/28/09 5:55 PM >>>

> This is a hard question.  I believe that a Government structure is

> warranted but I am torn as to put it under the Literacy program in the

> education branch or to have it in the Public Health branch where its

> biggest impact will be.  It is so hard to serve two masters, having it

> work with both might be expecting a bit much.  :)

>

> "Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty."

> Mark Twain

>

>

>

> Laura Brown, M.L.S.

>

> Chair, Reference and Research Services

> Loma Linda University Libraries

> P.O. Box 2000

> 11234 Anderson Street

> Loma Linda, CA 92354

>

> 909-558-4620

> 909-558-4722 (fax)

> http://www.llu.edu/llumc/jmlic/

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Rush, Steven R

> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 11:31 AM

> To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List

> Subject: [HealthLiteracy 3634] Re: Wednesday Question: State Support

> forHealthLiteracy

>

> Hi,

> Arthur Culbert is trying to put together a 14 state Health Liteacy

> Cooperative. He works with Health Litercy Missouri.  You may want to

> check with him.

>

> Steve

> Steven R. Rush, MA LP

> Director Health Literacy Innovation

> UnitedHealth Group Alliances

> 9701 Data Park Drive MN006-E500

> Minnetonka, MN 55343

> Office: 952-931-5975 I Fax: 952-931-4649 I

> Email: steven_r_rush at uhc.com

>

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney

> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 11:16 AM

> To: healthliteracy at nifl.gov

> Subject: [HealthLiteracy 3633] Wednesday Question: State Support for

> HealthLiteracy

>

> Hi Everyone,

>

> Well, it's been a very chatty October for us so far! (Lots of good

> stuff!) And things have quieted enough for me to post a Wednesday

> Question without clogging your mailboxes too much.

>

> Many states have one or more health literacy activities going on, in

> varying degrees of scope. But health literacy does not have any

> overseeing organization to organize and share the work within each state

> and among states. The adult literacy field has state directors, and

> there is a department of public health in each state, along with many

> other state-organized agencies that interact in various ways with health

> literacy.

>

> So my question is: If some kind of state organization were to help

> coordinate the health literacy activities in each state and share with

> other states, what kind of structure and support activities would be

> helpful? I'm going to leave it very open, and would love to hear any

> comments.

>

> All the best,

> Julie

>

> Julie McKinney

> Health Literacy List Moderator

> World Education

> jmckinney at worlded.org

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Health and Literacy mailing list

> HealthLiteracy at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy

> Email delivered to steven_r_rush at uhc.com

>

> This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or

> proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity

> to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the

> intended

> recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified

> that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is

> prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the

> sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Health and Literacy mailing list

> HealthLiteracy at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy

> Email delivered to ldbrown at llu.edu

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Health and Literacy mailing list

> HealthLiteracy at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy

> Email delivered to julie_mckinney at worlded.org

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Health and Literacy mailing list

> HealthLiteracy at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy

> Email delivered to ylipton at chnnyc.org

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Health and Literacy mailing list

> HealthLiteracy at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy

> Email delivered to josarrom at uic.edu

>

>



-- 
Jose O. Arrom, MA
Dissemination & Research Development Specialist
Midwest Latino Health Research, Training  and Policy Center
University of Illinois at Chicago
1640 W. Roosevelt Rd.#636 M/C 625
Chicago IL 60608
773-209-1817 O: 312-413-1836
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/healthliteracy/attachments/20091029/af6760fe/attachment.html