Conference Agenda – Tuesday, May 9, 2023

8:30 am – 9:00 am

Welcome

Michael Villaire, MSLM
President/CEO
Institute for Healthcare Advancement

Diana Peña Gonzalez, MPH, CHES
Health Literacy Education Director
Institute for Healthcare Advancement

9:00 am – 10:15 am

Plenary
Collective Impact: Partnerships That Move the Health Equity Needle

Paula Braveman, MD, MPH
Keynote
Founding Director, Center for Health Equity
University of California, San Francisco

Alexis Guild
Moderator
Vice President, Strategy and Programs
Farmworker Justice

Nakeitra Burse, DrPH, MS, CHES
Panelists
CEO/Founder
Six Dimensions

Gladys Carillo, MSW
Panelists
Director of Program Services
National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc.

Diana Rodriguez
Panelists
Vice President of Programs & Strategies
EveryoneOn

Objectives – After attending this session, you will be able to:

1. Describe at least 2 types of communities that have been systemically excluded from health and policy decisions.
2. Describe 3 strategies that engage participants in planning - to help shape programs and evaluate outcomes.
3. List 2 methods used to increase community engagement and help raise previously silenced voices to influence local and national policy.

Summary:

To advance health equity, health literacy practitioners invite those who endure inequities to build on their experiences and participate in shaping effective solutions. This session focuses on advocating, engagement, and participation.

10:30 am – 11:30 am

The Pennsylvania Health Literacy Coalition: A Statewide Approach to Improving Health Communication | Live Lecture

Susan Cosgrove, MPA, CPHQ
Senior Director, Community Impact
Health Care Improvement Foundation

Objectives:

1. Explain the core components and steps for expanding from a regional collaborative to a statewide coalition.
2. Describe challenges and solutions for connecting with diverse communities and geographic regions with differing needs to further health literacy goals.
3. Recognize the impacts of the pandemic and increased interest in health equity on coalition-building activities, and describe strategies to address these impacts.

Summary:

Over the past 13 years, the Health Care Improvement Foundation (HCIF) has advanced health literacy in Pennsylvania with grant funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. HCIF convenes a multi-stakeholder coalition, the Pennsylvania Health Literacy Coalition, and has developed and delivered health literacy training modules, consumer education, and educational conferences. Participants will hear about:

• The building blocks necessary to establish and expand a broad, multi-stakeholder coalition.
• The opportunity to deepen connections between health equity and health literacy through coalition activities.
• Challenges and innovative solutions for engaging diverse stakeholders across a variety of geographic regions and communities, even during a pandemic.

10:30 am – 11:30 am

Engaging Health Literacy Partners to Advance Health Equity in Rural Communities: One Community’s Approach to Better Understanding Health Literacy and Access in a Rural-Border Region | Live Lecture

Shiloh A.Williams, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, CNE
Assistant Professor
San Diego State University

Objectives:

1. Explain the challenges faced by rural healthcare systems in supporting national/international health literacy practices.
2. Recognize the importance of engaging with current and future healthcare professionals to address health literacy as a health equity issue.
3. Apply the ideas and concepts presented through case study to your own health literacy practices and settings to engage a multidisciplinary health literacy team.

Summary:

The call for the need to address health literacy as a necessary component of health policy development has been clear, but rural healthcare systems struggle to implement sustainable efforts to address low health literacy in the populations they serve. Further, health literacy is not a critical component of professional healthcare provider curriculum, resulting in providers with limited or no understanding of health literacy and its impact on patient engagement and care outcomes. In this session, participants will be able to brainstorm ways in which they can engage both traditional and nontraditional health literacy partners and continue to move health literacy to the forefront of our healthcare system.

11:45 am – 12:45 pm

How Unclear Communication Creates Inequities for Older Adults: A Call to Address Systemic Ageism in Healthcare | Live Lecture

Cliff Coleman, MD, MPH
Associate Professor
Oregon Health & Science University

Objectives:

1. Describe how health literacy, clear communication practices, and age intersect to produce healthcare inequities for older adults.
2. Provide examples of how commonly observed health communication practices contribute to systemic ageism.
3. Discuss a variety of practical policy interventions at the individual organization or healthcare system level that can mitigate systemic ageism in health communication.

Summary:

Systemic ageism occurs when a policy or practice that is the same for everyone has an unfair effect on a person because of their age. Adults 65 and older have the highest burden of chronic disease and highest utilization of health services—but lowest average health literacy skills—of any age group. This presentation highlights how the failure of the U.S. healthcare system to adopt and incentivize widescale universal precautions for clear communication disproportionately affects older adults and presents a call to action for addressing systemic ageism through improved health communication. Session participants will develop a new approach to advocating for organizational health literacy change, focusing on the ethical implications of care for older adults, a vulnerable but financially important patient constituency within healthcare systems.

11:45 am – 12:45 pm

**Improving Cultural Competency and Awareness for Health Professionals | Workshop

**Workshop - additional fees apply to attend this session

Matthew Weinburke, DrPH, MPH, MCHES, REHS
Independent Public Health Consultant

Summary:

Cultural awareness is the process of conducting a self-examination of one’s own biases towards other cultures and the in-depth exploration of one’s cultural and professional background to increase someone’s cultural competencies. This presentation will also include information in cultural humility, implicit bias, stereotypes, and other cultural competency terms. The overall purpose of this session is to provide tools and strategies on cultural awareness to equip health professionals with the skills and knowledge necessary to better serve individuals from diverse backgrounds.

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

**Community-Grounded Development of Health Literacy Materials | Workshop

**Workshop - additional fees apply to attend this session

Anna Allen, MS
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Say Ah!

Carol S. Lemus, MPH
Consultant
Say Ah!

Objectives:

1. Describe a community-grounded approach to materials development.
2. Develop a materials development plan that incorporates input from key sectors of a target community.
3. List some of the key messaging that should be included in health literacy materials.

Summary:

Say Ah! is using a community-based process to develop relevant, culturally and linguistically appropriate health literacy cards and messaging to help individuals manage chronic illness, navigate the healthcare system, and ensure they receive high quality health services. This workshop will describe the successes and challenges used to develop health literacy materials that reflect the community they serve. Participants will learn the steps to identify relevant and accessible messaging that resonates with the target population. Participants will develop a series of questions to gather necessary data relevant to their specific target community.

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Addressing Barriers in Health Literacy Within the Deaf Community | Live Lecture

Nancy M. Crider, DrPH, MS, RN
Assistant Professor Department of Graduate Studies
Cizik School Of Nursing UTHealth Houston

Colleen A. Manning, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
DNP Candidate
Cizik School Of Nursing at UTHealth Houston

Objectives:

1. Identify language barriers that hinder health literacy among the Deaf.
2. Name at least one ASL video relay interpreting service that can be used remotely to improve communication with Deaf people/patients.
3. Identify aspects of Deaf culture that impact health literacy.

Summary:

The intention of this presentation is to educate attendees on Deaf culture and its unique aspects, which are often overlooked, to help bridge the health literacy gap by improving overall communication. The presentation will include:

• A brief overview of Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
• Information/resources that support American Sign Language (ASL) as the primary and preferred mode of communication.
• How using ASL video relay interpreting (VRI) services on demand allows for more effective and quick communication.