Orlando, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/05/2010 -- The Florida Literacy Coalition (FLC) is pleased to announce that its health literacy curriculum, Women’s Health: A Special Addition to Staying Healthy, received the 1st place award for Reads-Easy™ in the National Health Literacy Innovators contest.
The Health Literacy Innovators Awards, a national contest to reward organizations and individuals for their commitment to excellence in plain language and health literacy principles, is sponsored by Health Literacy Innovations, creator of health literacy resources and the Health Literacy Advisor, the nation’s first interactive health literacy software tool.
Women’s Health won the ReadsEasy™ Publication award, which emphasizes the use of plain English, proper graphics and a proven reading level of 6th grade or lower determined by industry assessments.
“Congratulations to the Florida Health Literacy Coalition for its outstanding application and first place award in the Read-Easy portion of the 2010 National Health Literacy Innovator Award,” says Aracely Rosales, Health Literacy Innovations Chief Content Expert and Multilingual Director. “We salute FLC’s commitment to health literacy and to its community, and we applaud its innovation and creativity to develop this outstanding curricula for hard-to-reach women, many with language barriers who now for the first time may be able to understand their health information.”
The Women’s Health curriculum covers topics including menstruation, menopause, pregnancy, breast and reproductive cancers, sexually transmitted infections and domestic abuse. The student guide is loaded with photographs, illustrations and easy-to-read charts; the teacher guide includes practice dialogs and enriching class activities.
“FLC truly appreciates this award, which is shared by a great team of people who developed the curriculum,” said Greg Smith, executive director of the Florida Literacy Coalition. “It is our hope that this award will help raise awareness about women’s health and the availability of this free resource.”
Women’s Health, and its sister publication, Coping With Stress, are special additions to Staying Healthy: An English Learner’s Guide to Health Care and Healthy Living. Staying Healthy is the core health literacy curriculum FLC developed in 2008 with support from the Florida Department of Education, Division of Career and Adult Education. Staying Healthy is the central component of FLC’s health literacy initiative which, through the support of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, provides health-education resources for local adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and family literacy programs.
About the Florida Literacy Coalition
Established in 1985, The Florida Literacy Coalition (FLC) promotes, supports and advocates the effective delivery of quality adult and family literacy services in the state of Florida. As a statewide umbrella literacy organization and the host of Florida’s State Literacy Resource Center, FLC provides a range of services to support more than 300 adult education, literacy and family literacy providers throughout Florida. Special emphasis is placed on assisting community-based literacy organizations with training and program development needs. For more information about FLC call (407) 246-7110 or visit http://www.floridaliteracy.org.