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"Low health literacy isn’t confined to any one group of patients or residents. You don’t have to be illiterate to have low health literacy."
Kathy Gaskin, executive director,
Healthy Adams County
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90 million adults have trouble understanding health information
- A patient is told that he has PVD, but no one explains what that stands for.
- A patient receives discharge instructions, but no one asks her to describe the instructions as she understands them.
- A patient receives a brochure related to his illness, but doesn’t comprehend many of the words.
These are everyday examples of unclear health communications that help to contribute to low health literacy.
Ninety million adults have trouble understanding health information. Its scope and impact has serious consequences for individual patient outcomes and the health care system as a whole.
It affects the continuum of care from prevention and screening to history-taking to explaining a diagnosis and treatment.
Although low health literacy is gaining more attention, it is an age-old problem. It has been called a silent epidemic.
“Health literacy has been identified as an issue by several of our focus groups,” said Kathy Gaskin, executive director of Healthy Adams County.
“Low health literacy isn’t confined to any one group of patients or residents,” she said. “You don’t have to be illiterate to have low health literacy.”
Robin Rohrbaugh, executive director of the Healthy York County Coalition, added, “Low health literary has a tremendous impact on the quality of health care and outcomes.
“We believe that if we can improve health literacy in our communities, we can improve the health of the community.”
Gaskin and Rohrbaugh emphasized that you can’t identify patients at risk for low health literacy by just looking at them.
Many people with low health literacy have developed a number of clever and successful coping strategies that allow them to conceal their problem.
Health information is increasingly complex. Everyone regardless of education, age or socioeconomic status, wants help understanding health information.
When patients understand the information, they can appropriately follow the instructions and consequently improve their outcomes.
Clear health communications also can help reduce health disparities by ensuring that information is delivered in easy-to-understand, actionable and culturally relevant terms.
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Health literacy presentations in Gettysburg and York
As part of its efforts to increase health literacy, Healthy Adams County and the Healthy York County Coalition have planned a series of events.
The presenter will be Tanya Pagan Raggio-Ashley, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Office of Minority Health Disparities and chief medical officer, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration.
She will discuss “How Health Literacy Impacts Health Disparities in People We Serve,” 6:30-8 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 397 Tyler Run Rd., York, and 1:30-3:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27, in the Gettysburg Hospital Community Rooms.
To register for either community event, call WellSpan HealthSource at (717) 851-3500.
Dr. Pagan Raggio-Ashley has dedicated her life to eliminating health disparities via education, training and direct service programs. She received a Doctorate of Medicine from Rutgers University and completed a pediatric residency at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in New York City. She completed a cardiovascular epidemiology fellowship and received a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
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