"46% of Americans are functionally illiterate in dealing with the health care system."

This astounding statistic is one of many which indicate the social crisis this country is facing with implications for both health care providers and adult education practitioners. Studies have established a direct link between literacy levels and health status. Functional Health Literacy is needed for patients to read consent forms, medicine labels and other written health care information. In addition, patients must be able to understand written and oral directions from doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

These health brochures were developed through a Florida Department of Education grant to Leon County Schools Adult & Community Education in cooperation with the Florida Adult Basic Education Practitioners' Committee. The brochures are designed to be used with individuals with limited literacy skills in an effort to provide information on the health topics at a level understandable to the individual.

The brochure titled If Your Patient Can't Read is designed for health care professionals to provide an awareness of the issues of limited literacy individuals and to generate a consciousness of the issue when dealing with patients.

The brochures may be reproduced for use in an adult education setting or with a community setting as appropriate. Feedback and information on the use of the brochures is always welcome. To share feedback or for information, please contact Lynn Cunill at cunilll@ACE-Leon.org .

The following PDF documents can be viewed and printed out with the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free of charge from the Adobe website. You can save these documents on your own computer. Click the above graphic or click here to go to the download site.

• AIDS   (78 KB)

• Diabetes   (89 KB)

• High Blood Pressure   (73 KB)

• How to Talk to Your Doctor   (98 KB)

• If Your Patient Can't Read   (73 KB)