Health Literacy Events at U of M
By Kate Saylor
Outreach Librarian
Health Sciences Libraries
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
In recognition of October as Health Literacy Month, the 
University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries organized a two-day forum with the aim of building a community network to improve health communication. This event closed our health literacy project that was funded with a GMR Health Disparities Subcontract. Another portion of this project included creating an online toolkit for improving health literacy that can be viewed here: http://guides.lib.umich.edu/healthliteracy.
On the evening of Thursday, October 22nd 2009, the Health Science Libraries (HSL) hosted a panel discussion of literacy statistics and local programs aimed at improving health literacy and health communication. A poster session followed, featuring 18 posters that covered a wide array of health literacy issues, research and tools. 47 people attended this event. Poster abstracts are viewable here: http://tiny.cc/HsNJ2. J
ean Shipman taught the Friday, October 23rd morning workshop Prescription for Information: Addressing Health Information Literacy. 26 people attended this session that defined health literacy, the challenges that patients face in understanding complex health information, ways to recognize when a patient is struggling with health information and resources to improve communication. Photos from the event are viewable here: http://tiny.cc/eLQRt
