Health Literacy Media capped off the internationally-celebrated Health Literacy Month by honoring individuals and organizations for their inspiring and effective work to address and improve health literacy.
We honored 2 Missouri organizations and 1 outstanding individual with the Missouri Health Literacy Trailblazers Award and Christina Zarcadoolas Ph.D. with the Cecilia and Leonard Doak Health Literacy Champion Award.
Cecilia and Leonard Doak Health Literacy Champion Award
Christina Zarcadoolas, Ph.D. is a first-generation health literacy scholar. She helped define the concept and launch the field. Dr. Zarcadoolas, a linguist by training, shared how her career evolved from her early work at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf to her current focus on how emerging technologies can help improve health literacy. Overall, her focus has been on helping people improve and expand what they can do in life to improve their health, versus highlighting what they cannot do.
Missouri Health Literacy Trailblazers
The foundational work of the Saint Louis Regional Health Commission was honored with one of this year’s Missouri Health Literacy Trailblazer Awards. This organization – represented by Robert Freund, Jr. and Will Ross M.D., M.P.H. – shared the community-led process they used to explore the root causes of health disparities. This nationally-leading effort ultimately guided the Missouri Foundation for Health to provide initial seed funding to launch Health Literacy Missouri, which later became Health Literacy Media.
Tom Dugger, M.A., accepted the Missouri Health Literacy Trailblazer Award on behalf of the nonprofit organization Families and Communities Together (F.A.C.T.), based in Hannibal, MO. Their work demonstrates how a small organization can reach thousands of people and make a positive impact in the community through hard work and smart collaboration.
On behalf of awardee Barbie Rudder, Angie Knackstedt and Cheryl Chadwick accepted her Missouri Health Literacy Trailblazer Award. They shared stories of Barbie’s leadership and dedication to guiding patients and their families to better health during their care at Children’s Mercy Kansas City.
At Health Literacy Media, we are honored to celebrate the work of these inspirational individuals and organizations with our friends.
Read more about them: