WHL is pleased to share new mission and vision statements, which were adopted to better align with the activities and goals of the division:

Mission: Advance health equity through health literacy in organizations and communities.
Vision: All people have the skills and a fair opportunity to be healthy.

A unique partnership between Wisconsin Health Literacy’s Vaccine Community Outreach (VCO) initiative and the Eau Claire-based Black and Brown Womyn Power Coalition (BBWPC) resulted in a dramatic increase in COVID-19 vaccination rates among the Hmong population.

The Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit Embracing Health Literacy in the New Normal: Digital Communications, Telehealth, Health Insurance, and Health Equity took place on April 4 -6th, 2022. Individuals who work in healthcare, insurance, public health, community-based organizations, research, education, information technology, libraries, literacy and more were able to learn and discuss solutions and strategies to communicate information related to health for improved health outcomes.

We are very grateful for the support of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and for the recognition from Governor Evers. Our member agencies and countless other non-profits and public health workers across Wisconsin are working together to make vaccinations and health care more equitable.

A statewide organization that aims to raise awareness about health literacy is next Monday hosting a vaccine community outreach event to help ensure that the public has access to reliable and accurate information about COVID shots.

This includes smart phones in hand most hours of the day, preordering, contactless pickups, online signups for more reliable PCR tests, online signups for vaccinations, scanning QR codes everywhere, telehealth visits, online health portals, etc. And, for many of us, this is on top of being in online meetings most of the day looking at a screen.

Wisconsin Literacy and Wisconsin Health Literacy were interviewed on WORT 89.9 FM Radio for the "8 O'Clock Buzz." They discussed how adult literacy changes lives and the importance of health literacy for better health outcomes.

The Rural Monitor article covers the importance of using plain language instead of medical jargon to create more equitable healthcare.

“Providers can forget to translate their information back into plain language for their patients,” Stan Hudson, Health Literacy Director of Wisconsin Health Literacy said. “This lends to the creation of an unequal system of information-sharing in healthcare."

In this issue, we feature community programs and opportunities; digital literacy workshops; talking about COVID vaccines in your community; medication label initiative; and health insurance literacy virtual mini-series.