FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAY AH!’S LAUNCHES CARD TO COMBAT LOW HEALTH LITERACY
New “Tips For Talking with Your Doctor” to Reduce Confusion as Barrier to Care
New York, NY, January 11, 2011 – To help the nearly nine out of 10 Americans who lack the basic skills needed to manage their health in today’s complex health care environment, Say Ah! has created the deceptively simple “Tips for Talking with Your Doctor” card designed to ensure patients get better and safer care. The wallet-sized card is easy-to-read and easy-to-use, and is accessible to those with low literacy levels, reading and learning differences, and vision impairments.
“Say Ah!’s Health Information Card is a genuine innovation, a discreet and portable reminder of what doctors and patients both need: a true partnership, and a level playing field.“ – David H. Newman, MD, Director of Clinical Research, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Hippocrates’ Shadow: Secrets from the House of Medicine.
The card helps patients give and get information during their doctor’s visit, providing tips such as:
- Always tell your doctor what medications you are taking
- Get the information you need:
- Ask Questions
- Take Notes
- Make sure you understand any instructions your doctor gives you
“Tips for Talking with Your Doctor distills the basics of what to say — and ask — at a doctor’s visit,” explains Anna J. Allen, a Say Ah! co-founder. “Doctors go to schools for years but patients rarely get the training they need to use health care safely and effectively.”
Say Ah! was founded to provide people with the skills and information they need to make their health care the best it can be. Say Ah! conducts employee and patient/caregiver workshops, helps physicians create user-friendly patient materials, and provides tips for patients and care providers to improve health literacy and communication. Tips for Talking with Your Doctor will launch nationwide in January.
“[The card is] an excellent tool for improving patient-doctor communication.” Dr. Sandeep Jauhar, Director of the Heart Failure Program, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and author of Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation.
The card was created and written by Say Ah! co-founders Anna J. Allen and Helene Eisman Fisher who co-wrote an esteemed breast self-exam card for women under 40 that was widely disseminated in English- and in Spanish-language versions. Allen and Fisher worked with reading, accessible design and medical experts to create Tips for Talking with Your Doctor. “This sort of information, these tips, should be in the hands of every person who needs them,” said Eisman Fisher. “Indeed, health in hand is the message and the medium.”
Tips for Talking with Your Doctor represents what health care communication should look like and is the first in what will be many forthcoming Say Ah! Health Information Cards focusing on several essential health care issues. I hope you will take a look at the card and consider talking to Allen and Fisher about their organization, for background or about the simple tips. Drs. Jauhar and Newman are also available for interviews, as are the reading and accessible design consultants.
A copy of the card is attached, and is also available to download for free at www.justsayah.org. The online version includes a form for people to keep track of their medications so that they can share this vital information with their providers. Hard copies of the card can be ordered at info@justsayah.org.
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