Public Health Grand Rounds held on August 25, 2011. 1 hour archived webcast.

Overview

An important mission for local public health in Michigan and throughout the United States is in providing vaccines for children; these presentations look at health literacy implications.

This 1.0 hour archived webcast originated from the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion and was presented on August 25, 2011 as an on-site and live webcast event. The Public Health Grand Rounds was jointly sponsored by Wayne State University School of Medicine and the City of Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion and was presented by the Michigan Public Health Training Center and the Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Immunizations.

Speakers

For an advocate’s perspective: Zachary Yaksich, is the founder of Alana’s Flu Foundation, which was established in 2009 to educate people about the severity of influenza and the importance of vaccinating children against the flu every year.

For a research perspective: Melissa Valerio, PhD, Assistant Professor, Health Behavior & Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health. She is particularly interested in functional health literacy and its implications for disease prevention, management and health disparities. Additionally, Dr. Valerio is currently working on assessing patient understanding and use of information exchanged during patient/provider encounters.

For a practice-based perspective: Monique Reeves, MD, MPH, is the Medical Director at Washtenaw County (MI) Public Health Department. Dr. Reeves previously served an emergency medicine residency at the Detroit Receiving Hospital.

Objectives

• Recognize who is affected by health literacy.
  Identify consequences of limited health literacy for immunization providers.
  Apply lessons learned to improve immunization-related health literacy.