Annual Health Literacy Award Recipients

Health Literacy Team Champion Award: Recognition of IHS team that demonstrates innovative, practical solutions, and contributes to effective communication to empower people to make informed decisions to improve their health.

Parker Indian Health Center Purchased Referred Care

Recognition of IHS leader and team that demonstrates high commitment, effort, and patience when providing education regarding PRC to the staff and community they serve. The Parker Indian Health Center Purchased Referred Care Supervisor and department staff always provide education regarding Purchased Referred Care (PRC) whenever they get a chance. The supervisor and staff members have created visual boards, and handouts, and attended events to provide education to the communities they serve verbally. They also provide visual and verbal education to providers and other staff when requested about the process of PRC. This is a great example when it comes to the importance of health literacy and the care of patients. PRC is a difficult area/ department within IHS, however, this team strives to provide education/ information to all levels of individuals internally and externally regarding PRC. The Parker Indian Health Center Purchased/ Referred Care department has a great leader who is always willing to share what knowledge they have with their team.

Team Members:

Individual Category
Violeta M. Pantaleon, RN, Northern Navajo Medical Center

Health Literacy Equity Individual Category

Recognition of an IHS employee that demonstrates high commitment and effort to enhance effective communication with those with limited health literacy.

Violeta M. Pantaleon, RN, Northern Navajo Medical Center

Violeta M. Pantaleon, RN, Public Health Nurse, Indian Health Service, focused on health literacy equity by promoting patient's access to health education, advocating for improvements in healthcare delivery systems that increase access to health education for patients and communities, and sharing evidence-based health literacy information for parents and for schools. Ms. Pantaleon emphasized the assessment of patients' and caregivers' health literacy to provide health education material that is accurate, age-appropriate, and actionable. An example was providing health education to a family for helping them understand the procedures, treatments, and medications. During the pandemic, Ms. Pantaleon advocated for materials that contained graphics and Navajo language about COVID-19 to be included in discharge education to help increase understanding through words, pictures, and written language. Today, about 1,283 families have received this handout through discharge education. Ms. Pantaleon also advocated for systemic improvements in technology services to deliver more Navajo interpretation by phone, which led to all phones on the unit being upgraded and increased use of oral education to promote equitable access to health information and patient decision-making.

Ms. Pantaleon currently works in Public Health Nursing and her goal is to develop an organizational health literacy plan for schools and community partners.

Health Literacy Team Champion Award

Recognition of IHS team that demonstrates innovative, practical solutions, and contributes to effective communication to empower people to make informed decisions to improve their health.

Mescalero Indian Health Service, Opioid Stewardship Program

The Mescalero Indian Health Service Opioid Stewardship Program is recognized for outstanding contributions to health literacy through the recognition of necessary patient education contributing to safe and effective pain medication prescribing.

To address community calls for safe and effective pain relief, the Mescalero Indian Health Service established an opioid stewardship program. The program collaborates with different health disciplines to focus on patient education and literacy.

The opioid stewardship program's commitment to patient care is to provide safe prescriptions and education so that patients receive the right pain medication, for the right reasons, for the right length of time, and for the correct dose.

Accomplishments and impacts include addressing the Surgeon General's priority of opioid safety prevention by providing naloxone and training to 12 emergency medical services personnel in two communities; formation of an interdisciplinary opioid stewardship committee that meets twice a month to address pain treatment, safety and provides education; improving access to prevention and treatment. In addition, use social media to support and promote appropriate health-literate messaging for community outreach.

Team Members