Center for Health Literacy Conference 2010: Plain Talk in Complex Times

Updated July 27, 2010--

Conference Agenda

Download the complete conference guide (pdf).

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Conference begins with lunch at 12:30 p.m.

Keynote: Advancing Health Literacy: Too Big to Fail more info
Christina Zarcadoolas, PhD, Associate Professor, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

Living with Disabilities in the Web 2.0 Era, Panel Discussion

• Glenda Watson Hyatt, blogger, author: I’ll Do It Myself
• Tom Babinszki, PMP, Director, Even Grounds, accessibility consulting
• To be announced

Making Your Web Content Accessible to All
Marguerite Bergel and Ann Chadwick-Dias, Fidelity Web Technology Group, user experience/accessibility analysts

Closing Roundtable
Thursday's speakers

Friday, July 30, 2010

CMS Tackles Health Reform (working title)
Cindy Mann, JD, Director, Center for Medicaid and State Operations, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Lessons from Katrina and Its Aftermath
Ruth Kennedy, LaCHIP Director and Medicaid Deputy Director, Department of Health and Hospitals, State of Louisiana

Lessons from the Gulf War and TRICARE Beneficiaries
S. Dian Lawhon, MHR, APR, Director, Communications and Customer Service, TRICARE Management Activity

Moving Fast: Social Media in Crisis Situations more info
Andrew Wilson, Web and new media strategist at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Morning Roundtable
Friday morning's speakers

Buffet Lunch

Complex Medication Regimens and Age-Related Changes in Literacy more info
Erica Estus, PharmD, CGP, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Rhode Island

Letting Go of the Words: Content as Conversation more info
Janice (Ginny) Redish, PhD, President, Redish & Associates, Inc.

Serving a Diverse Linguistic and Cultural Community, Panel Discussion more info
Interpreter services, translation, multilingual call centers, and Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards

• Moderator: Joxel Garcia, MD, President, Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico
• Julia Puebla Fortier, Director, DiversityRx - Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care
  
• Héctor Gayón, Principal, Integral Linguistic Services
• Ileana Jimenez Garcia, MBA, Director of Interpreter Services, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Awilda L. Martinez-Rodriguez, Project Manager, New York Medicaid CHOICE

Everything Starts at the Front Desk: Learning from My Practice
Lisa M. Jones, MD, FACOG, Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Greater New Bedford Community Health Center, New Bedford, MA

Closing Roundtable
Friday afternoon's speakers

Preconference Workshops

Workshop 1 or 2, 8:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. (Thursday, July 29, 2010)

Workshop 1: Design that Delivers!
Learn design strategies that improve the readability and usability of print and Web materials. This workshop is for non-designers who have to do their own graphic design at work or people who hire graphic designers.

Workshop 2: Usability Testing on a Dime: Why, Where, and How
Learn why field testing is important for creating user-friendly Web sites and print materials, and gain insight into how people really receive your messages (or not). Learn how to write and deliver a successful field testing interview.

Workshop 3 or 4, 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (Thursday, July 29, 2010)

Workshop 3: Social Media Camp: Look, Listen, and Join the Conversation
Learn how and why to establish an online presence through Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, and learn the basics about these social media tools - uses and potential abuses, privacy and security concerns, and writing techniques.

Workshop 4: Literacy Audits Made Easy
Learn how to audit Web and print materials to find out what's working for your customers and what isn't. Get tips on biggest-payoff ways to make improvements.

Conference Purpose and Goals

Educators, community advocates, and public health professionals will come together at this conference to learn strategies for clear communication. A skilled group of researchers, clinicians, cross-cultural and linguistics experts, and program leaders—all of whom are experienced in communicating with diverse audiences—will share their best practices.

At the end of the conference, you will be able to:

• Evaluate your agency or organization’s communication strategy and identify specific barriers to readability or usability.
• Implement an approach for removing those barriers and improving communication, using strategies learned at the conference.
• Identify at least one communication expert or resource new to you whose work leads you on a new path toward improved communication.

Registration Rates

Take advantage of early-bird registration rates until June 30. For discount codes for students, active military, MAXIMUS employees and speakers Email us.

Conference

> Early-bird rate - $250

> After June 30 - $299

Preconference Workshops

> Early-bird rate - $30

> After June 30 - $50

Hotel Reservations

PLAIN TALK 2010 conference attendees are eligible for a special room rate of $167.14 (price includes all applicable taxes) at The Westin Alexandria. Reservations must be made by July 13th to receive the special room rate. Hotel Reservations

Session Descriptions

Keynote: Advancing Health Literacy: Too Big to Fail
Christina Zarcadoolas, PhD, Associate Professor, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
You’ve rewritten your health material to the 5th grade reading level. No complex vocabulary or long sentences. You’re using culturally appropriate visuals and plenty of white space. You focus group and copy test. Now what? In the current landscape, with chronic diseases that require patients to be engaged in anything but routine self management; medication-taking behaviors driven by powerful forces beyond prescription label reading; and zoonotic threats that expose the uncertainty of evolving science, it’s time to take a closer look at the strengths and limitations of simplicity. Has it lived up to its billing? Will it get our patients and the public to live safer, healthier lives? Come and hear Dr. Zarcadoolas talk about the Simplicity complex!

Moving Fast: Social Media in Crisis Situations
Andrew Wilson, Web and new media strategist at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
News travels fast and nowhere more so than in social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. This presents challenges for communications professionals but also very powerful opportunities to improve our ability to respond effectively. Hear concrete examples of how social media was used during both the recent H1N1 outbreak and the nationwide peanut product recall in 2009.

Complex Medication Regimens and Age-Related Changes in Literacy
Erica Estus, PharmD, CGP, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Rhode Island
Older adults represent a rapidly growing segment of the population creating many challenges within our healthcare system. In this session, Dr. Estus will discuss physiologic changes associated with aging and the impact on health literacy. The significance of medication errors, adverse drug events, and complex medication regimens will be highlighted as well as strategies to enhance effective communication when interacting with older adults.

Letting Go of the Words: Content as Conversation
Janice (Ginny) Redish, PhD, President, Redish & Associates, Inc.
Every use of your web site is a conversation started by your site visitor. How well does your web site converse with your site visitors? Does it speak plainly and directly to anxious parents, and make information easy to find for busy health professionals? Come work with Ginny Redish and get great tips and techniques for understanding your audiences, understanding how people look for and use information on the web, why and how plain talk matters as much – if not more – on web sites than on paper. You will leave with new ways of looking at your web site, new understanding of the research behind the practical guidelines for writing clearly, and lots of examples to help you use the guidelines.

Serving a Diverse Linguistic and Cultural Community, Panel Discussion
Interpreter services, translation, multilingual call centers, and Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards

• Julia Puebla Fortier, Director, DiversityRx - Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care, and the principal developer of the CLAS standards for the USDHHS Office of Minority Health, will discuss the current status of the CLAS standards and how they have influenced a variety of policy and practice initiatives.
• Héctor Gayón, is the director of Integral Linguistic Services (ILS), an international translation company that has worked with the Center for Health Literacy for ten years. ILS specializes in adapting translation for readers with limited literacy skills.
• Ileana Jimenez Garcia, MBA, Director of Interpreter Services, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will talk about her experiences in helping to provide multilingual interpreter services at a major medical center, and some of the unique and recurrent cultural and ethical situations she faces day to day.
• Awilda L. Martinez-Rodriguez, Project Manager, New York Medicaid CHOICE, will discuss the challenges of operating a multilingual call center and providing the same high level of quality customer assistance across all languages. Ms. Martinez-Rodriguez will discuss the call center she directs in New York, and its evolution from the beginning (1998) to present. She'll discuss multicultural team building and the application of call center technology, workforce management and quality control to customer assistance and enrollment services delivered in several different languages.