Health Literacy
I have previously written about my grandmother who has Leukemia. During this experience, I have learned a lot of inside details about the nitty gritty of being a care giver and what being client-centered really means. Another concept that has been demonstrated in front of me is the importance of health literacy.
A long time joke in my family is that my brains definitely did not come from my father. My dad's side of the family are not the "college type". Every one of my cousins, my uncle, my father and my aunt work in the auto mechanic industry in some type of way. They are all very knowledgable and talented when it comes to repairing and understanding cars. While they all possess skills I cannot even comprehend, they do not understand half of the things I say when I talk about school. They are not dumb or uneducated by any means, but they are not health care people. This is nothing I have ever thought anything about until my dad's mother became ill.
My mother and I immediately began researching statistics and life expectancy for someone her age with all of her health conditions. Simply looking at numbers, we were able to realize what type of road my family was going to have to take. Unfortunately, my father and my grandmothers boyfriend discredited any information we found, because you can't believe everything you read on the internet. While this is true, they do not understand that you believe some range of things you read from accredited sights and studies.
The doctors were focused on getting her out of the hospital, because she has Medicaid. Her health was not the doctors or nurses main priority and they filled my family with false hope. Unfortunately, being realistic was not something they were concerned with. It was obvious to me that they knew that she was dying. I was able to research most of the information we needed and luckily my dad learned to listen to my input. Up until the present, everything I researched has become true. More of my facts and statistics were more realistic than anything the doctors told us.
My father is the decision maker for my grandmother, which is overwhelming for him, therefore I have been behind him every step of the way deciphering what things mean and the simile reality of the situation. One of my family members has been very hard for us to handle during this time because he is very close to my grandmother and knows she is not a fan of pain killers. The week she became ill, I had to be the first person to start giving her pain meds. She told me that she hated taking them because she did not want to become addicted to pain killer. I found this to be a very interesting comment, given the circumstances. Anytime she has been asked to rate her pain, she has given us a ten. Hospice has recently put her on morphine and it is a constant fight for us to make one of my family members give it to her. She is in a great deal of pain and it is obviously necessary, but he knows she doesn't like it so he doesn't want to give it to her. This has been a fight for us, because I know it is more important for her to not be in pain than anything else.
If my mother and I were not able to decipher the situation and medical terms for my family, they would be in a totally different situation. Every step of the way I have served as a "translator"for my family. This whole aspect has showed me how important health literacy is. If you are not able to navigate the health care system yourself, you at least need to have someone in your family who can.
A long time joke in my family is that my brains definitely did not come from my father. My dad's side of the family are not the "college type". Every one of my cousins, my uncle, my father and my aunt work in the auto mechanic industry in some type of way. They are all very knowledgable and talented when it comes to repairing and understanding cars. While they all possess skills I cannot even comprehend, they do not understand half of the things I say when I talk about school. They are not dumb or uneducated by any means, but they are not health care people. This is nothing I have ever thought anything about until my dad's mother became ill.
My mother and I immediately began researching statistics and life expectancy for someone her age with all of her health conditions. Simply looking at numbers, we were able to realize what type of road my family was going to have to take. Unfortunately, my father and my grandmothers boyfriend discredited any information we found, because you can't believe everything you read on the internet. While this is true, they do not understand that you believe some range of things you read from accredited sights and studies.
The doctors were focused on getting her out of the hospital, because she has Medicaid. Her health was not the doctors or nurses main priority and they filled my family with false hope. Unfortunately, being realistic was not something they were concerned with. It was obvious to me that they knew that she was dying. I was able to research most of the information we needed and luckily my dad learned to listen to my input. Up until the present, everything I researched has become true. More of my facts and statistics were more realistic than anything the doctors told us.
My father is the decision maker for my grandmother, which is overwhelming for him, therefore I have been behind him every step of the way deciphering what things mean and the simile reality of the situation. One of my family members has been very hard for us to handle during this time because he is very close to my grandmother and knows she is not a fan of pain killers. The week she became ill, I had to be the first person to start giving her pain meds. She told me that she hated taking them because she did not want to become addicted to pain killer. I found this to be a very interesting comment, given the circumstances. Anytime she has been asked to rate her pain, she has given us a ten. Hospice has recently put her on morphine and it is a constant fight for us to make one of my family members give it to her. She is in a great deal of pain and it is obviously necessary, but he knows she doesn't like it so he doesn't want to give it to her. This has been a fight for us, because I know it is more important for her to not be in pain than anything else.
If my mother and I were not able to decipher the situation and medical terms for my family, they would be in a totally different situation. Every step of the way I have served as a "translator"for my family. This whole aspect has showed me how important health literacy is. If you are not able to navigate the health care system yourself, you at least need to have someone in your family who can.
Comments
Post a Comment