Health Literacy, Healthy Equity, and Our Response to COVID-19
Michele Erikson
Watch the video or read the highlights below.
Lightning Talk Highlights
In this IHA Lightening Talk, Michele Erikson, Executive Director of Wisconsin Literacy Inc. and the Wisconsin Health Literacy division, will share Wisconsin Literacy’s work on health literacy, health equity, and their response to COVID-19.Wisconsin Literacy Pivots for a New Normal
A statewide organization, Wisconsin Literacy supports 70 member agencies—to include building agency capacity to provide effective literacy services. Their mission is changing lives by strengthening literacy statewide. They accomplish this by teaching adults to read and write in English, and to improve their job readiness skills.
In the middle of March, Erikson’s team noticed that their students were being significantly affected by COVID-19. Many of those students were essential workers. Other students lost their jobs and didn’t have access to unemployment benefits. Faced with a rapidly spreading pandemic and conflicting information, few could process what, exactly, was happening. Those with language barriers and limited technology skills were especially affected.
Wisconsin’s Safer at Home Order in Plain Language
When Wisconsin’s governor put out the Safer at Home order, Erikson’s team lost no time. Within about 24 hours, they had created a plain language version of the order. Doing so meant that their students—as well as many others—could understand the order’s requirements and know what resources were available.
Let’s Talk About Viruses Fact Sheet
The team, further, realized that misinformation and misunderstandings ran rampant. They recognized the growing confusion about masks, social distancing, and handwashing. And they addressed these concerns by creating the Let’s Talk About Viruses fact sheet. Available in different languages, the fact sheet provides guidance in the form of 5 tips for staying safe and healthy during COVID-19.
Celebration of Literacy Fundraiser
As events unfolded, Wisconsin kids were confined to their homes—and likely to stay there for a while. The implementation of remote learning presented an entirely new set of challenges. How were parents to help their children when they, themselves, lacked experience with Chromebook or iPad? Fortunately, help was on the way.
Instead of canceling their Annual Celebration of Literacy, Wisconsin Literacy reimagined their tradition as a virtual fundraising event—a decision that fostered the launching of several initiatives. Because access to technology and the internet was pivotal to students’ professional development, Wisconsin Literacy bought Zoom accounts and internet hotspots. Having the opportunity to learn about new platforms (such as Zoom, WebEx, and GoTo meetings) kept learners connected and engaged.
Voting and Census Webinars
Although Erikson’s team had begun their work with voting and the census before the COVID-19 crisis, they had redoubled their efforts by spring. Pandemic havoc notwithstanding, they understood the importance of civic responsibility and took strides to impress its gravity upon their member agencies and their learners.
Securing an online professional development opportunity for their members—courtesy of The League of Women Voters and The US Census Bureau—was instrumental in helping them advance that goal.
Wisconsin Health Literacy Responds to Increase Access and Understanding During Pandemic
TeleHealth Form
COVID-19 also forced a number of pivots by the Wisconsin Health Literacy division. One early, fundamental pivot concerned healthcare delivery. COVID-19 had catapulted telehealth visits to a whole new level—a development that required cooperation and understanding from their healthcare partners.
Because online visits were new to many of their members, they worked quickly to streamline the process. This included equipping providers with telehealth visit permission forms and scripts for scheduling patient appointments.
They, further, worked with AHRQ and other telehealth form associations to explain, in plain language, what telehealth means for the patient.
Let's Talk About Opioids: Activity Book
The Wisconsin Health Literacy division also produced an activity book called Let's Talk About Opioids. COVID-19 precautions, however, prevented them from delivering the book to correctional settings. Not content to limit the book’s reach, they quickly distilled an in-person workshop into resources designed for individual use.
These resources, which were available for download, included a train-the-trainer program, a student activity guide and workbook, a Moodle module, and on-topic videos.
Things you can do now:
At the IHA Health Literacy Conference wrap-up, Erikson’s team affirmed their understanding of the why and the what of health literacy, but also acknowledged the challenges the how of health literacy presented.
And how do you even begin to tackle that?
- Check in with partners who are supporting communities of color—where coronavirus is especially malignant. Follow their lead to offer your own support.
- Don’t prescribe what you might think is needed; co-create with the community.
- Create safe spaces for group conversation.
- Use Zoom meetings and provide hotspots for internet access.
- Consider new and old-school delivery methods for resources and learning materials.
- Use plain language, which was a hot topic at the IHA Health Literacy Conference.
Take this opportunity to stay engaged, to keep society’s racial justice movement alive, and to think about how people move through this pandemic. Technology skills, plain language, and trusting relationships are essential to our continued and successful participation. Our world is looking very different now … and may continue doing so for a long time to come.
Contact Information
Michele Erikson
[email protected]
608.346.3075.
Wisconsin Literacy Website
Health Literacy Wisconsin Website