October is Health Literacy Month – spread the word
October is Health Literacy Month. For more than 20 years, hospitals, health centers, libraries, federal and state agencies, and health literacy champions have worked together during Health Literacy Month to raise awareness and promote the importance of clear and understandable health information. We invite our local and tribal health partners to explore, learn, and join us in recognizing Health Literacy Month.
What Does Health Literacy Look Like?
Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
The Health Promotion & Education team at DOH works to boost our organizational health literacy through skill building.
Get Involved
Here are ways you can take action:
- Follow Washington’s Plain Talk guidelines when writing for the public and other partners. Use our Plain Talk 1-pager or 2-pager as a reference.
- Take the CDC’s Health Literacy for Health Professionals online training.
- Talk with your team about how you can apply health literacy principles in your work.
More Health Literacy Resources
We want to share a few of our favorite health literacy resources with you. These resources inspire us and broaden our understanding of health literacy in practice.
- CDC – Health Literacy Website for health communicators, public health professionals, and community leaders who seek information and tools on health literacy research, practice, and evaluation.
- Health Literacy Out Loud Helen Osborne, the founder of Health Literacy Month and a health literacy advocate, produces and hosts a podcast interviewing “those-in-the-know.”
- We Heart Health Literacy is a blog that shares practical health literacy tips and tricks. You can sign up to receive these in your inbox.
For more information or support with Health Literacy or Plain Talk for public health, contact DOH Health Educator Emma Wolf.