Blogs

The Challenges of Today’s Health Literacy Work By: Diana Gonzalez, MPH, MCHES, EdD(c) Health literacy work has changed a lot since this conference began 25 years ago. It started with a focus on making health information clearer. Today, the work has expanded in ways we could not have predicted. Navigating a More Complex Information Environment Health information now comes from many different places , including community ...

From Advocate to Caregiver: My Reckoning with Plain Language By: Mary Jane Nirdlinger, AICP, ICMA-CM Last July, my son texted me at 3AM: the CT scan shows a mass in my head. I cried. I booked a ticket and signed off at work. I packed a carry-on and flew to Toronto where I would stay for the next three and a half months. Before I got on my plane, he and his girlfriend met with the head of Neurology. Clicking on the video she took while the surgeon talked was like opening the door to ...

Most Maternal Deaths Are Preventable. Why Aren’t We Preventing Them? By: Diana Peña Gonzalez, MPH, MCHES, EdD(c) The United States has some of the worst maternal health outcomes of any high-income country. Researchers comparing global maternal health data have found that the U.S. consistently lags behind its peers. That fact alone should stop us in our tracks. What’s even harder to accept is this: most of these deaths do not have to happen. ...