Personal health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand, and use healthcare information in order to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment.
Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
A primary goal of the Council is to improve all areas of health literacy at both the personal and organizational levels within our community.
The Rockford Citywide Health Literacy Initiative, coined RockfordReady, aims to address health literacy, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and mistrust of the health care system among Rockford residents, through the context of social determinants of health. Additionally, there is an emphasis on Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx populations.
The Initiative will address these issues by engaging directly with local healthcare providers, community organizations and leaders, and community residents and empowering them to share credible, effective resources that will help increase COVID-19 vaccine adoption and improve communications between healthcare providers and patients.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) awarded a grant to the Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA) in partnership with the Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA) for 10 regions of Illinois to develop, cultivate, and strengthen community-based partnerships to reach populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in the targeted focus areas.
IPHA and IPHCA have partnered with CBOs and FQHCs to run grassroots-style campaigns focused on COVID-19 vaccination education, outreach, and administration in the identified communities of focus. The Rockford Regional Health Council was identified and sought after as one of these CBOs.
IRIS is more than just technology to connect families to the right services at the right time. It is also an approach that brings committed champions, partners, and policymakers together to build healthy communities. This program is people-powered, technology-enabled, and data-driven.
We are thrilled to be a part of the early stages of implementing IRIS in the Rockford area and highly encourage your involvement and support as this project grows!
"Young people are dynamic and full of promise, with many different pathways to success." This is a quote directly from the homepage of an organization called HelloInsight. It encompasses the purpose of their program: helping youth development programs better...
Our triannual Health Community Study is well underway as of June 2023. The Health Council completed the Community Analysis portion in May, a summary of data collected through various sources and will be publicly available along with the survey results. In...
The Health Council presented RockfordReady, the health literacy and covid vaccination grant we serve as a part of, with the idea of involving our youth in the health literacy conversation by engaging them through TikTok. This came to fruition April 2023-May 2023 for...
The Youth Mental Health System of Care (YMHSOC) initiative is facilitating the pilot implementation of the Integrated Referral and Intake System (IRIS). IRIS is a web-based referral application that improves communication among partners by streamlining the referral...
The Rockford Summit on Racism was hosted by Eliminate Racism 815 on Thursday, May 4th, 2023 at the UW Health Sports Factory. Over 400 people attended this gathering of interested community organizations, businesses, and concerned individuals. Included in the several...
Click Here for the full 2023 CHR Report Introduction County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R) brings actionable data, evidence, guidance and stories to support community-led efforts to grow community power and improve health equity. The University of...