Thurston County Board of Health promotes Health Literacy Month 

The Thurston County Board of Health proclaimed October as Health Literacy Month, while encouraging residents to seek reliable health information and make informed decisions about their well-being.  

The proclamation, which was adopted at a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, highlights the risks of health misinformation and the importance of making medical information accurate, accessible and easy to understand.  

“Health misinformation or misinterpretation can erode public trust in evidence-based medical information and data,” the proclamation states.

Carolyn Martin, Outreach and Education Coordinator for Region 5 of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) at the University of Washington Health Sciences Library, said improving health literacy requires cooperation between individuals and organizations.  

She said personal health literacy involves the ability to find, understand, and use information to make decisions, while organizational health literacy focuses on how effectively institutions help people access and understand information.  

Martin said health literacy affects everyday decisions, including taking medications correctly, understanding medical test results, scheduling appointments, and following hospital discharge instructions. Improved health literacy can also improve outcomes, reduce hospital readmissions and reduce disparities.  

The health board through its proclamation, acknowledged easy access to information online can be helpful, but it can also be confusing, as medical content may be misinterpreted, inaccurately presented or fabricated.  

To address the challenges, Martin encouraged organizations to provide trustworthy information in multiple languages and formats, use plain language instead of medical jargon, and help the public develop skills to evaluate health claims.  

She also urged residents to measure the credibility of online information by checking qualifications of sources qualifications and comparing claims from authoritative resources.  

Improving public health outreach 

Dr. Jen Freiheit, of Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department, said the department uses Hootsuite to monitor social media engagement, including clicks and the number of people who scroll past posts.  

“Certainly, there’s room for improvement in how we can increase health literacy in certain populations and reach people in certain populations,” she said.  

Freiheit noted that the department aims to better understand how to reach specific audiences rather than simply publishing content online and hoping it reaches the intended communities.