CLEARLAKE — The Clearlake City Council supported a request Thursday of the California Association of School Health Educators to declare Oct. 16 to 22 as “National Health Education Week” in the City of Clearlake. The designation was made as part of the council consent calendar.
The theme of this year”s health education week is “Health Literacy: Gateway to Improving the Public”s Health.”
The proclamation designating National Health Education Week reads as follows:
“WHEREAS, the City of Clearlake has a vital interest in a health literate nation in collaboration with the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and the California Association of School Health Educators (CASHE); and
“WHEREAS, health literacy has been defined as the ability to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions; and
“WHEREAS, nearly nine out of 10 adults have problems finding and using health information and the cost of poor health literacy to our nation is estimated to be between $100 to $200 billion U.S. dollars (USD) annually; and
“WHEREAS, health literacy affects all people”s ability to search for and use health information, adopt healthy behaviors, and act on important public health alerts; and
“WHEREAS, improving health literacy skills includes an integrated approach that involves enhancing the usability of health information and services; and increasing the health-related knowledge of individuals and their capacity to understand health information; and
“WHEREAS, community health educators and school health educators are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between the information disseminated by the healthcare and public health systems and the knowledge and skills of consumers who use them; and
“WHEREAS, SOPHE and CASHE are committed to addressing health literacy issues and reducing the incidence of poor health literacy among Americans by bringing health education and its principles into the legislative and public arenas; and
“WHEREAS, in celebration of National Health Education Week, national, state and local collaboration is essential to support the 2011 National Health Education Week focus on health literacy through the theme, ?Health Literacy: Gateway to Improving the Public”s Health;”
“NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Clearlake does hereby proclaim the third week of October, October 16 to 22 as National Health Education Week and urge all individuals and communities to take part in activities designed to enhance awareness of public health education messages and activities to reduce poor health literacy by supporting and encouraging participation in National Health Education Week including maintaining and strengthening current health education courses provided by over 100 California school districts and by the formation of a California Assembly Speaker”s Advisory Panel on School Health Education.”
