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Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; the importance of healthcare decision planning; and a debt dilemma: poll shows how many people wrestle with college costs.

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Civil rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump, and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Rising Health Illiteracy – Consequences for SD

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Friday, October 12, 2007   

Webster, SD – Health illiteracy is on the rise in South Dakota, and it comes with consequences. Lola Pollard, a physician's assistant from Webster, says health literacy refers to a patient's ability to understand basic health information and services. It's important, because poor health literacy is a stronger predictor of a person's health than age, income, employment status, education level, or race. She says the problem is due, at least in part, to the fact that the number of older South Dakotans is growing.

"More than 80 percent of people over the age of 60 have trouble reading the information given to them at the hospital, or reading their prescription drug information."

Pollard says it's not just the elderly; more and more people living in South Dakota don't speak English as their first language.

"Other people adversely affected are those who are minorities or immigrants, and low-income individuals. In fact, about half of the people with Medicare or Medicaid cannot read above the fifth grade level."

This is "National Physician Assistant" week, and PAs in South Dakota and nationwide are observing the profession's fortieth year by focusing on solutions to the health literacy problem. In South Dakota, their strategy is to start young, by working with children.

"We want children to get excited about reading. We're still working with our National American Academy of Physician Assistants, providing literature to children and reading to them in schools to promote health literacy. We want to start with the youngest and, as they grow, we hope to have a lifelong effect."

Pollard says the knowledge is important, because there's also a correlation between health literacy and the care a patient receives.


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