Honors/Awards

Audrey Riffenburgh, Senior Health Literacy Specialist at UNM Hospitals, was honored with the 2014 Distinguished Healthcare Team Member award in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion where the health literacy initiative Audrey leads is based.

Audrey’s health literacy work focuses on guiding UNM Hospitals toward becoming a more health literate organization. The organization recently made a leap toward that goal when the leadership approved a position against testing patients’ health literacy (or functional literacy) skills in a clinical setting.

Wendy Mettger and Sue Stableford were the contracted plain language experts for separate projects winning 2014 ClearMark Awards of Distinction. These awards celebrate the best in clear communication and plain language from government, non-profits, and private companies. Wendy’s client, the March of Dimes, won an award for the booklet, Postpartum Depression: What you need to know. Sue’s client team, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Department of Health, won awards in 2 categories for consumer materials about safe well water. Their consumer piece, ‘Are You a Smart Well Owner?’ took top place in the category for public best original document.
 
These awards were announced at the annual Awards dinner on April 22, 2014 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Sue and Wendy accepted the awards with their clients at that event.

The 3rd edition of the text, Gerontology for the Health Care Professional, has just been released with a chapter about health literacy written by Sue Stableford. Titled “Health Literacy and Clear Health Communication: Teaching and Writing so Older Adults Understand”, the chapter introduces health professions students to key concepts of effective patient communication, with an emphasis on the needs of older adults.

Janet Ohene-Frempong was the second invited Blum Visiting Scholar, nominated annually by the Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. On October 30, 2013 Janet met and had discussions with members of both the Blum Center staff and the MGH Patient Education Committee, at a luncheon reception.
She then addressed the larger faculty and staff, in her Blum Visiting Scholar Lecture entitled “Time and Temperament: Lowering Two Lingering Barriers to Effective Health Communication”. Her goals were twofold: first, to acknowledge the extensive efforts being made to reduce disparities, improve health literacy and improve health outcomes; and, second, to broaden the discussion and include the need for having adequate time, as well as a compassionate temperament, in those efforts.

An article titled “Lessons from the Workshop Trenches: Challenges in Teaching Plain Language Writing to Health Professionals” will be published in the upcoming issue of Clarity #70 to be released online in November. CLGers Sue Stableford and Audrey Riffenburgh wrote the article based on their many years of offering workshops, helping health professionals learn communication skills that address health literacy challenges.

Wendy Mettger’s collaboration with the March of Dimes wins the Gold. On April 16th, at the Center for Plain Language ClearMark awards, the March of Dimes booklet, “Thinking About Your Family Health History”, took the Grand prize. This is an award of national significance. Wendy, as the health literacy and plain language consultant to the March of Dimes, worked closely with Karen Kroder, Editorial Director, Education and Health Promotion, in the development, graphic design and field testing of the booklet.

Jann Keenan collaborates in winning 2 ClearMark merit awards in the original documents and multi-media categories for plain language writing, web, videography, and graphic design.

Learn more about the awards, visit www.centerforplainlanguage.org