A Literacy for Life program designed to help adults who have difficulty in understanding critical medical information they receive has gotten a boost thanks to a $5,000 grant from the local Rotary District headquartered in Williamsburg.
The money came from a district grant check presented to Literacy for Life officials by Rotary District Governor-Elect Stephen Beer. An additional $1,000 in funding is set to be donated from the Williamsburg Rotary Foundation. The money will be used to develop a pair of videos that expand that program, known as Health Education and Literacy, or HEAL.
The HEAL videos will be used to train tutors and instructors. It will also be used to help medical professionals identify patients who don’t understand healthcare information due to literacy issues so that the trained tutors can be asked to provide assistance.
Frank Ferrante of the Williamsburg Rotary Club said Literacy for Life was identified as a good program for grant money after he spent time tutoring people there. He said he worked with a crane operator who needed to pass exams mandated by the state in order to keep his job — which he did. His work there underscored the importance of the HEAL program.
“We are extremely grateful for the Rotary’s generosity and ongoing support,” said Joan Peterson, the executive director of Literacy for Life. “This grant is going to really help us advance the HEAL program with awareness and tutor recruitment and training.”
Peterson said more than 200 people associated with the medical field have received training and more than 100 people with health literacy issues have received help from the program since it began in Summer 2012.
The Rotary District has outlined six areas of focus — at least one of which must be satisfied in order for a grant to be awarded. Those are peace and conflict prevention/resolution, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, and economic and community development. The Literacy for Life grant applies to maternal and child health and basic education and literacy.
The videos will be produced by Smellycat Productions, a local company that has agreed to produce the videos at a discounted rate. Fiona Van Gheem, the program manager at Literacy for Life, said that company has already produced one video for Literacy for Life, which you can view here.
Literacy for Life is a nonprofit organization that has worked for almost 40 years to help promote literacy among community members so they may function more effectively. Rotary is an international organization of businesses and professional individuals linked by their humanitarian service in a nonpolitical, nonreligious setting that is open to all cultures, races and creeds.
