Still in my pajamas and
enjoying my second cup of coffee, a desperate phone call interrupted my day
off. It was Ken. Calm, cool Ken. A guy so laid back, I often wondered if he was
taking short naps in between sentences.
Ken is a member of the
sandwich generation. He and his wife Anna are hard pressed between the needs of
their kids, their grandkids, and their fiercely independent elderly parents; so
I occasionally lend them a hand as an eldercare professional. Ken’s voice was shaking
one particular day when he called for my help, “My dad has stage four kidney failure…this could be it…my mom wasn’t sure
if it was stage four or three or…the doctor called and wants to see him right
away…They’re probably going to admit him…” I reassured him that I’d meet
his dad at the doctor’s office, I got dressed and quickly jumped into my car.
A short time later, I was listening to the nurse record his remarkably good vitals. Apparently all he needed was a vitamin B-12 shot. “That’s it? Are you sure? What
about his kidney function?” I asked. It was fine for a man his age. Go figure.
So, what the heck happened? I knew there had to be a health literacy teachable moment somewhere
in the middle of all this and here’s what I found:
Ken’s mother read the
lab test results that came in the mail the same day they called to schedule his
B-12 shot. Did I mention that she suffers from macular degeneration? And that she’s
legally blind? And that all she could really make out was the test key, which gave
specific ranges for stage one right on through to stage five kidney failure.
She never compared her husband’s actual reading to the key…which led to her hysterical
call to Ken…which led to Ken’s frantic call to me... which led to ...well, you get the point! It was like playing Telephone Tag, with disastrous results.
This short but intense emotional
upheaval could have been avoided and here’s how:
A simple medical
release form would give their adult children access to their parent's test results, not only that, but a quick phone call to
the Doctor’s office would have prevented it from getting out of hand.
If this kind of thing
has ever happened to you and/or a loved one, you are not alone. According to
the *Minnesota
Health Literacy Partnership, “only 12%
of literate Americans are proficient in understanding health information.” Twelve percent!
We can all promote better health through better communication. This
short video clip sums up the benefits of finding a trained health literacy
facilitator. I hope you enjoy watching!
*Source:
https://healthliteracymn.org/health-literacy/why-health-literacy-matters
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