HSC Collaborates with Banner Poison Control Center (BPCC) on Low Literacy Workshops for Poison Prevention Educators

The Home Safety Council is proud to work with Banner Poison Control Center (BPCC) to develop a unique poison outreach program to reach the underserved, low literacy population. Nearly half of all American adults—90 million people—have difficulty understanding and using health information and there is a higher rate of hospitalization and use of emergency services among patients with limited health literacy, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine titled Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion.

In response to this staggering statistic, BPCC received a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to conduct workshops with every poison control center in the United States on the topic of communicating important safety messages to a low literacy population. The project addresses the HRSA Poison Control Program (PCP) strategic goal to develop poison prevention materials for people with limited literacy skills.

Through the project, low literacy poison prevention education materials developed by the Home Safety Council, in partnership with ProLiteracy, will be distributed to poison control center educators and literacy professionals to increase their understanding of low literacy and expand understanding of poison prevention by the literacy community. In June, Home Safety Council Director of Education and Outreach, Dr. Angela Mickalide and Linda Church of ProLiteracy traveled to Clearwater Beach, Florida to launch the first training event.

During the three years of the grant, the innovative program will train a total of 60 educators from poison control centers throughout the United States. Many health care educators may make assumptions about an individual’s ability to comprehend health information, yet more than 300 studies have shown that health information cannot be understood by most of the people for whom it was intended.