Community Health
Ken Gruber, PhD
330 S Greene St, Suite 200
Greensboro, NC 27401
Email: kjgruber@uncg.edu
Phone: 336.217.9732
Section Description/Goal
Our goal is to reduce inequities in health through participatory action research and mutually beneficial partnerships with community stakeholders
Section Initiatives/Project Names/Brief Description
Guilford Health Literacy Forum
- Provide training, evaluation and technical support to health literacy projects in Guilford County
- What to Do When Your Child Gets Sick, Ask Me 3, Adult Literacy, ESOL, readability service
NC Health Literacy Coalitions
- Provide strategic planning, training, technical support and evaluation to NC communities seeking to start health literacy coalitions
- Design and disseminate toolkits for health literacy best practices
- Modeled after Guilford Health Literacy Forum
- Currently working with Northeastern NC counties (centered in Elizabeth City), New Hanover County, Wake County
- Plan to initiate 6 additional coalitions in 2009-2010
NC Pharmacy Assessment
- Implement AHRQ tool for comprehensive pharmacy assessment in NC pharmacies
- Monitor state of health literacy in NC pharmacies
- Advocate for best practices
NC Hospital Assessment
- Implement Harvard tool for assessing health literacy in NC hospitals
- Monitor state of health literacy in NC hospitals
- Provide recommendations for improving health literacy
- Advocate for best practices
NC Health Literacy Conference
- Plan and implement annual state conference on health literacy
Perceptions of Adolescent Sexuality Education
- Survey adult residents of Guilford County
- Conduct focus groups with faith leaders, youth, parents, community and business leaders
Quick Facts
- Health literacy is the ability to read, understand and act on health information.
- Literacy skills are the strongest predictor of individual health status.
- Everyone in the United States is susceptible to health literacy concerns, regardless of age, race, education or income.
- About half of the US population – 90 million adults – has difficulty understanding and using health information.
Key Community Partners
Accordant
Albemarle Hospital
BCBS Foundation of NC
Cape Fear Health Literacy Coalition
Center for New North Carolinians
Church World Service
Congregational Nurse Program
Greater Greensboro Medical Society
Greensboro AHEC
Greensboro Public Libraries
Guilford Child Development
Guilford Child Health
Guilford County Dept of Public Health
Community Care Network
Guilford County Health Literacy Forum
Guilford County Schools
Guilford Technical Community College
Lutheran Family Services
Moses Cone Family Practice Center
Moses Cone Health System
Moses Cone Internal Medicine Clinic
Moses Cone Wesley Long Community Health Foundation
Natural Science Center of Greensboro
NC Hospital Association
NC Literacy Association
NE NC Health Literacy Coalition
Reading Connections, Inc
UNC Health Disparities Collaborative
UNC School of Medicine
UNC Sheps Center
United Way of Greater Greensboro
Wake County Health Literacy Coalition
On the Web…
http://nchealthliteracy.uncg.edu