Spiritual Literacy Month

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By Diane Forrest

With the start of the holiday season, many people turn to the Bible and read about the Christmas Story, and why we celebrate this time.  There are other people who to other forms of Spiritual messages.  Some would argue that spirituality makes a person more sensitive to love, justice, peace and more of the intangible things that cannot be directly perceived by a person's senses. It supports the idea that the human being and the rest of creation are composed not only of matter but of something that is immaterial and beyond our knowledge. Other definitions of spirituality explain it as a power, greater than oneself, that is operating in the universe; a sense of inter-connectedness with all living creatures; and an awareness of the purpose and meaning of life and the development of personal, absolute values. It is impossible to point out the "right" definition as each individual perceives the word spirituality in his or her own way.

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Spirituality provides a way for people to escape from the negativity, frustration, anger and stress in their lives. Practices such as prayer, meditation and yoga allow a person to reach the balance between his or her thoughts and actions.  Spirituality is different from Religion.  Despite the fact that it varies from person to person, spirituality has a number of common themes. A person living spiritual life seeks to reach beyond his or her limits. This goal may include questioning beliefs, keeping an open mind and trying to better understand the ways of the other people. Self-discovery is an important factor to many people who regard themselves as spiritual. Spirituality's objective is not always to reach a conclusion or solve a problem but rather to help find a direction, meaning and purpose in life.

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So this month, as we celebrate this holiday season, find some time to discover what helps you to put your life in balance.

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Health literacy Month

“2012 – Be a Health Literacy Hero”

By Terry Orr

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BP, Glucose, A1C, …on and on and on – and what the heck do they all mean?  Really, if you’re not medically inclined – these are just gibberish without meaning – except when they really affect your life.

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According to AARP, nine out of ten American adults have some problems with health literacy.  Well folks, I clearly fall into one of the nine – my wife and Diane are both nurses – and this blog site writes about health-related topics nearly daily.  Yikes!

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What is Health Literacy

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services – health literacy as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate decisions.

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Helen Osborne decided back in 1999 to start a grassroots initiative to raise awareness about the need for understanding health communication.  This year’s theme is Be a Health Literacy Hero – committing to actions you can, and will, take to make long-lasting difference. She offers these suggestions: Spread the word; Partner with others; and Make a business case about why health literacy matters.

A few things that came to mind while eating lunch today were:

• Health word of the day;
• More Health-related materials taught in K-12;
• Expand current Health-related awareness days, weeks and months;
• Encourage main-stream Media to take initiative to provide more (public service) information on health-related 30-60 second spots during peak viewing;
• Encourage drug manufactures to invest in educating the public; and
• Add health literacy into your topic of conversation during your family meals.

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Got and ideas?  If so, please share them with us – we would truly love to read them and pass them along.  Thanks!

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Something we all need to do better is to understand our diagnosis when departing from our doctor’s appointment.  Do we have the information we need to address the health issue?  The National Patient Safety Foundation encourages patients to “Ask Me 3” questions each time they meet with their health care provider:

1. What is my main problem?
2. What do I need to do?
3. Why is it important for me to do this?

They make a lot of sense when you take a moment to think about them.

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References and Links:

http://www.healthliteracy.com/tips.asp

http://www.healthliteracymonth.org/

http://blogs.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/2012/10/01/kicking-off-health-literacy-month/

http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/hlthlit.html

http://www.chcs.org/usr_doc/Health_Literacy_Fact_Sheets.pdf

International Literacy Day – Literacy and Peace

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By Terry Orr

“Education brings sustainability to all the development goals, and literacy is the foundation of all learning. It provides individuals with the skills to understand the world and shape it, to participate in democratic processes and have a voice, and also to strengthen their cultural identity. “

Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General

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Literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. Educational opportunities depend on literacy.

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Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. There are good reasons why literacy is at the core of Education for All (EFA).

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A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~ Chinese Proverb

A good quality basic education equips pupils with literacy skills for life and further learning; literate parents are more likely to send their children to school; literate people are better able to access continuing educational opportunities; and literate societies are better geared to meet pressing development.

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According to International Reading Association, more than 780 million of the world’s adults (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) do not know how to read or write, and between 94 and 115 million children lack access to education.

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No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. ~ Confucius

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Things we can do to help:

• Read a book to a child
• Have a child read a book to an adult
• Take a professional development course
• Join a social media platform – Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Write a letter to an old friend – the snail mail way!
• Share this list with friends and coworkers – and dare them to take the challenge!
• Play a game of Scrabble
• Look up and learn a new word (and continue to do so every day for a month!)
• Use a new form of technology (Smartphone, self‐serve checkout, etc.)

“Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavoring something for the public good.” ~ Thomas a Kempis (1380 - 1471)

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I cannot live without books. ~ Thomas Jefferson

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A library is a hospital for the mind. ~ Anonymous

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There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island. ~ Walt Disney

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References and Links:

http://www.reading.org/general/conferences/InternationalLiteracyDay.aspx

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/

http://www.bookaid.org/get-involved/events/international-literacy-day/

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-156.html

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Celebrate National Braille Literacy Month

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By Akindman,

January was chosen for this celebration because it is the birth month of Louis Braille, the inventor of the system of raised dots that made it possible for people who are blind to read and write for themselves with independence and freedom.

Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809. He became blind in an accident when he was three years old according to a biography at the American Foundation for the Blind. At that time, there were books with raised letters but these were difficult to produce and cumbersome to use. In 1821, Braille was introduced to ‘night writing,’ a code of twelve dots that a former soldier, Charles Barbier, had invented for soldiers to use to share information on the battlefield. Braille created a system that used only six dots and published the first book in Braille in 1829.

15 FACTS TO SHARE DURING BRAILLE LITERACY MONTH (from http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/01/17/15-facts-share-braille-literacy-month/):

1. Braille is not a language;
2. Lessons in Braille begin with tactile exercises;
3. Louis Braille developed his eponymous system at age 15;
4. At 20, he published the first complete book about the Braille system;
5. The Missouri School for the Blind was the first American educational institution to accept Braille;
6. Six-dot Braille cells have 63 possible combinations;
7. There are three different “grades” of Braille;
8. “Braille for feet” exists;
9. Most legally blind children in the United States do not use Braille resources;
10. At least 27 states hold legislation requiring that legally blind children have access to Braille resources;
11. Visually impaired readers who learned on Braille have a lower unemployment rate than their print counterparts;
12. The vast majority of legally blind students attend schools where the teachers do not know Braille;
13. Braille users write with a slate and stylus;
14. Braille and sign language are not interchangeable; and
15. Most legally blind people can read print.

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(From Lighthouse for the visually impaired and blind) There is a literacy crisis among the blind in America. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. For many persons with total or profound vision loss, the only way they can effectively read and write is by using Braille, a system of raised dots invented by a blind Louis Braille.

Being literate is essential to succeed in life. While the rate of unemployment for persons who are blind is extremely high (70%), it is interesting to note that 90% of blind individuals who are employed are Braille readers. The NFB, the oldest and largest organization of blind persons in the U.S., has been the champion of Braille literacy for decades. They have initiated a campaign to double the number of Braille readers by 2015.

The Annual Braille Challenge, also, promotes Braille literacy and competency. It is a national academic competition open to all blind students up to grade 12.  The Challenge stresses reading comprehension, spelling, Braille speed and accuracy, proofreading and the reading of tactile charts and graphs.

For more information, please check out these links:

• American Foundation for the Blind (www.afb.org)
• National Foundation for the Blind (www.nfb.org)
• Shespeaks (http://www.shespeaks.com/Celebrating-National-Braille-Literacy-Month)
• Online Colleges (www.onlinecolleges.net)
• Lighthouse for the visually impaired and blind (www.lvib.org)

Health Literacy Month

By Diane Forrest, RN

Earlier this year, around Valentine’s Day, a wonderful young man asked me to take a look at his blog, and maybe even think about writing articles about caregiving and being a caregiver, since I was in that unique position for so long.  It was his goal to teach people about health related subjects, to help them understand several different diseases, causes, treatments and answer any questions they might have.   I offered a few suggestions about different topics I considered important, and before you know it, this site was born.

Today we try to keep you informed on several health matters, safety matters, fun stories and recipes.

With the use of the internet, television shows on health, the White House promoting nutrition’s, there is a lot of information floating around out there, and we really appreciate the time you spend reading the information we share with you.

This is Health Literacy Month.  Founded by Helen Osborne in 1999 and celebrated each October since, Health Literacy Month is a time when individuals and organizations worldwide raise awareness about the importance of understandable health information.   Health literacy includes the ability to understand instructions on prescription drug bottles, appointment slips, medical education brochures, doctor's directions and consent forms, and the ability to negotiate complex health care systems. Health literacy is not simply the ability to read. It requires a complex group of reading, listening, analytical, and decision-making skills, and the ability to apply these skills to health situations.

Sometimes understanding health issues can be very complicated, especially if you are giving information when you are sick, scared, and or confused.  The key to understanding the information you are given is to either write the information down, have someone with you to help listen and explain it, reasearch the information when you are not so overloaded.

Don't hesitate to have your doctor explain things to you in a way you can better understand, or have your pharmacist explain new drugs to you.  Always question anything you doubt.  Just because we get older, does not mean we stop learning.

Literacy - We Can All Help

International Literacy Day 2011 celebrates peace

This year’s International Literacy Day, celebrated world-wide on 8 September, will focus on the link between literacy and peace. During a ceremony in New Delhi, India, UNESCO will award the international Confucius and King Sejong literacy prizes to projects in Burundi, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United States of America.

Also in New Delhi, an international conference on Women’s Literacy for Inclusive and Sustainable Development is being organized by UNESCO’s E9 initiative, from 8 to 10 September.

On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally.

Despite many and varied efforts, literacy remains an elusive target: some 793 million adults lack minimum literacy skills which means that about one in six adults is still not literate; 67.4 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

What literacy is all about?

The definition of literacy and a literate person is vast according to UNESCO. A literate person is one, who can, with understanding, both read and write a short statement relevant to routine life, and capable of analytical understanding of men’s condition in the world. Literacy is a means of personal liberation and development and delivering individuals educational efforts. Literacy is a method of achieving faculties to develop their economic status and general well being and inculcating values of national integration, conservation of surroundings, fairer sex’s equality, observance of standard family tradition, etc.

Why literacy is important?

Literacy is not just about educating, it is a unique and powerful tool to eradicate poverty and a strong means for social and human progress. The focus of literacy lies in acquiring basic education for all, eradicating poverty, reducing infant mortality, simmering down population growth, reaching gender equality and ensuring constant development, peace and democracy. There are sufficient reasons why literacy is the centre of Education for All (EFA). A good quality basic education equips people with literacy potentials for life and further learning; literate parents are inclined to send their children to school; literate people are prone to access continuing educational opportunities; and educated societies are better geared to keep pace with the pressing development.

Hence literacy is considered as an effective way to enlighten a society and arm it to facing the challenges of life in a stronger and efficient way, raise the level of personal living, create and assist change the society.

Four Tier Plan

Since 2000, for disseminating literacy across the world in big scale various governments of the world have announced four initiatives in collaboration with several agencies of the United Nations. These four initiatives are:

1. Education for all
2. Millennium development targets
3. United Nations literacy decade and
4. United Nations decade of education for constant development.

Several educational programs have been launched by the governments of world to make the people literate. Of course, such literacy programs have become successful, but still a good section of country’s population is still non-literate.

Making the entire literate is yet a farfetched goal. The fact is that without making the entire world literate we cannot expect a global development.

On this special day, let us take an oath to make our country as well as the world literate. It is possible if we take the very first step ourselves by sparing some time for uneducated people living around us.

Several educational programs have been launched by the governments of world to make the people literate. Of course, such literacy programs have become successful, but still a good section of country’s population is still non-literate.

Making the entire literate is yet a farfetched goal. The fact is that without making the entire world literate we cannot expect a global development.

On this special day, let us take an oath to make our country as well as the world literate. It is possible if we take the very first step ourselves by sparing some time for uneducated people living around us.

(http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-building-blocks/literacy/advocacy/international-literacy-day/)

IDEA STARTERS – International Literacy Day

http://www.reading.org/Libraries/Association_documents/2010_IDEA_STARTERS.pdf

http://www.reading.org/Libraries/Association_documents/Literacy_Project_Highlights.pdf