Vision
To promote clear communication between those who give and those who receive health care services.
Wisconsin Health Literacy (WHL) is a statewide organization raising awareness of the importance of health literacy and fostering better communication between health care consumers and health care providers. WHL is a division of Wisconsin Literacy, Inc., a non-profit coalition of over 70 community-based literacy programs located throughout the state. Donate to increase literacy skills statewide.
Health Literacy News
Prescription labels have a lot of details on them, which can make it difficult for patients to find and use important information.
The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) has funded Wisconsin Literacy for Phase 4 of the Medication Label Project ‘Reducing Medication Errors: Adopting Evidence Based Directions For Use on Prescription Labels’.
This phase of the project will focus on making medication directions easier to understand for patients by increasing the use of the Universal Medication Schedule (UMS) when prescribing medications.
In this issue, you will meet our new Project Manager Bhumi Khambholja, learn about our Talking About COVID Vaccines in Your Community project, get updates on our Medication Label Project, and find out about 2021 community program opportunities.
What is health literacy?
The Institute of Medicine defines health literacy as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic information and services needed to make appropriate decisions regarding their health."
Why is it so important?
Literacy skills are the strongest predictor of health status, more than age, income, employment status, education level or racial/ethnic group.
Health literacy was first measured on a national scale over a decade ago. The results revealed:
- Only 12 percent of Americans are proficient in health literacy and 93 million Americans 16 years or older (43 percent of the population) read at the two lowest literacy levels.
- Health literacy isn’t just an issue that affects people with limited English or low literacy skills; 88 percent of us are challenged by the health care system.
Health Literacy Services
Wisconsin Health Literacy offers training and consulting services customized to meet your organizational needs. Trainings focus on the numerous ways that health literacy impacts care delivery, health outcomes, and public health.
Medication Label
Wisconsin Health Literacy is working with a patient advisory council to design easy-to-read medication labels. Our work has impacted over 4 million prescription labels in Wisconsin.
Health Literacy Summit
The Health Literacy Summit is the largest in the Midwest.
Diverse sessions and networking opportunities provided attendees with the opportunity to learn more about health literacy.
Visit our Summit page for more information.
