As COVID-19 proliferates across America, access to reliable, understandable information is critical. One's health literacy is the degree to which you can get, understand, and use basic health information to make decisions about health issues, identifying the false information, and discarding it. Plain language health literacy is a valuable tool in fighting this virus for our students and the community at large.
When the California Health Literacy Initiative (http://www.literacyworks.org/healthliteracy) launched in 2003, we wrote that adult learners faced the same health care challenges as fully literate adults. They faced challenges in establishing a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, understanding new therapies, and new diseases. For adult learners, the additional struggle is to deal with all these tasks while lacking the necessary skills to find and understand health-related information. As a result, they often fail to engage in early detection and preventive health care practices and have difficulty understanding and complying with instructions from their doctors.
Literacyworks staff is dedicated to providing our students and the community with the best, current, most understandable, and trustworthy information to help deal with this current and any future crisis. As the Global Working Group on Health Literacy of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education stated about the pandemic, “the dissemination of quality, timely and understandable information is key in slowing down transmission and avoiding overburdening the healthcare system.”
As part of our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources site, we will continue to identify and tag false information by:
Helping our students cross-check the accuracy and credibility of information found on TV, radio, internet, and social media.
Enabling our students to ask questions to family members and trusted health professionals about the fake news, misinformation and harmful content and messages.
Encouraging our students to check the source of information (where does it come from, who is behind the information, what is the intention, why was it shared, when was it published.
Below are some fake theories and our response. To see more, go to our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources site at http://www.literacyworkscenter.org/covid-19.
Wearing gloves will 100% protect me from the coronavirus.
FALSE! Gloves only help if you do not touch your eyes, nose, mouth and wash your hands after removing gloves. Whatever your dirty gloves touch, it can spread the coronavirus to those surfaces.
I am young and healthy, so I can’t be infected by the new coronavirus.
FALSE! According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people of all ages can be infected by the new coronavirus. Older people and people with illnesses (like asthma, diabetes, heart disease) can be in danger of becoming ill with the virus. WHO recommends people of all ages to take steps to protect themselves from the virus.
Hand dryers and UV lamps are effective in killing the coronavirus.
FALSE! According to WHO, “hand dryers are not effective in killing the coronavirus. UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands, or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation. To protect yourself against the new coronavirus, you should frequently clean your hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub.”
Drinking a bleach solution will prevent you from getting the coronavirus.
FALSE! FALSE! FALSE! Do not drink bleach! Social media users and others are spreading a dangerous conspiracy theory that says drinking a bleach concoction will prevent contracting the 2019 coronavirus strain at the center of a current outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration has released multiple warnings about the "dangerous and potentially life-threatening side effects" of the solution and urges people not to drink it. They have reports of people experiencing severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, acute liver failure and death after drinking cleaning products.
We will continue to support our students and community when disaster strikes with sites like Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources http://www.literacyworkscenter.org/covid-19.
As the global pandemic moves into May, our Center students continue to face significant challenges. As reported last month, the majority of our 110 students made the transition to online learning. Many said that they miss their classmates and teachers. They tell us that there is a great deal of homework, and it seems harder with no one to ask questions easily. Many of our students have children who are having their own first experience with online learning. Parents become teachers overnight, and some are struggling with their new role. The next dimension of this ever-changing situation is beginning to unfold. Rent is due on the first of May, and a number of our folks don’t have the money to cover it. Money for food is limited for some, many are taking advantage of the food banks, but that is sometimes in short supply. The subtle anxiety about the unknown yet to come is often masked by a perpetual optimistic belief that things will work out for their family. It seems the Center staff’s role has moved from not only providing educational support to also becoming an underfunded social service effort. One student told the staff that she appreciated getting a call because she knew we had her back and that we cared. During a recent Center staff telephone meeting, one member said that they are regularly profoundly inspired by the courage and strength of our students. Their bravery and boldness in attempting to change their futures through education are now being tested, but we believe they can succeed.
Some details about a few of our students: Diana is in a pre-nursing program taking anatomy online. She will do it, but she says it is not easy. Her tenacity and drive to improve the chances for her family’s future is a model for so many of our students. Vicente, a first-generation college student, has been helping some other students figure out how to manage the technology needed for online learning. He was due to graduate this month, but he will have to cross the stage virtually due to the virus. He is transferring to UC Santa Crus in the fall with a full scholarship for tuition and room and board, majoring in Physics. Maria is working on completing her GED. Now that the class is online, she is not sure how she will do but told us would succeed because she wants to be a model for children. Emanuel’s phone was disconnected.
~ Chris Schultz, Center Director
SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS!
Our low-income students are among the most vulnerable in our community when it comes to suffering during a disaster. Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, many of our students are suffering a loss of income and housing. Also, SRJC has been closed since the first of April when online classes began.
Our staff is offering additional support services to ensure our students stay in school and complete their course of study. We are proud that most have persisted and remained.
Thank you for supporting our students with your donation during this difficult time. You are making a difference in their lives with your gift.
