health communications

This toolkit is an expanded version of a presentation from the 4th Biennial Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit (April 12-13, 2011).

“There are two things you don’t want to see being made—sausage and legislation.” It’s time to change this attitude, to roll up our sleeves, to get in there and get dirty. We have a role in the policy-making process as health care providers and professionals, literacy experts and educators, health care consumers and learners. This workshop will equip you with 15 powerful actions you can take to fight for the issues you care about—especially advancing the agenda of health literacy!

The presentation was recorded and will be available on the Health Literacy Wisconsin website.

More information coming soon!   

Tools to dowload and use

Click the link below to download a copy of this full presentation without audio.

(Tip: right click on the link below and select "save target as")

 

More resources

Click the links below for more information about influencing health care policy and advancing the health literacy agenda:

Health Literacy Agenda

• National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• Making Health Literacy Real: The Beginnings of My Organization's Plan for Action (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Healthy People 2020: Health Communication and Health Information Technology (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• Healthiest Wisconsin 2020 (Wisconsin Department of Health Services)
• Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy (Vernon JA, Trujillo A, Rosenbaum J, DeBuono B.)
• Collaboration Multiplier (Prevention Institute)

Tracking Congress

• THOMAS (The Library of Congress)
• GovTrack (Civic Impulse, LLC)
• OpenCongress (Participatory Politics Foundation)
• Regulations.gov (Online source for U.S. government regulations from nearly 300 federal agencies)
• Office of the Federal Register (U.S. Government Printing Office)

Identifying Your Elected Officials

• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate
• Wisconsin State Legislature

Contacting Your Elected Officials

• Write Your Representative
• Contact Your Senator
• Contacting the Congress
• Communicating with Elected Officials (ProLiteracy)
• Writing and Framing Community Success Stories (Prevention Institute)

Lobbying Reports

• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate
• State of Wisconsin

Helpful Books and Resources

• The One-Hour Activist: The 15 Most Powerful Actions You Can Take to Fight for the Issues and Candidates You Care About (Christopher Kush)
• Soapbox Consulting (Christopher Kush)
• Going Public: An Organizer's Guide to Citizen Action (Michael Gecan)
• Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide To Creating Groups That Can Solve Problems and Change the World (Michael Jacoby Brown)