HEALTH LITERACY INITIATIVE
Divine Grace Medical achieves its mission by emphasizing on health literacy, health communication, health prevention and technical education in a holistic environment, health care counseling programs and similar programs focused on health literacy training, and creating health care opportunities to low-income families. Our aim is to support the development of health literacy and healthcare skills in diverse low income communities in Houston.
Health education, physical activity, and good nutrition help to reduce people’s risk for chronic diseases, reduces symptoms of anxiety, and fewer hospitalizations, physician visits, and medications intake. Physical activity is a good way to avoid developing functional limitations, improve physical function, and provide therapeutic benefits for people with chronic diseases. Effective way to increase health education, healthy eating, and physical activity is through health awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and values; interpersonal factors such as family, friends, and peers; organizational factors such as rules, policies, and environment within organizations.
The Health Literacy Empowerment program (HLE) is to support the development of health literacy among the low-income, seniors, and diverse population by identifying the solutions related to health literacy crises within the minorities. The needs to be addressed are health literacy communication gap, ability to access and understand the use of health technology, lack of adequate knowledge, and health maintained population living in Southwest Houston. Health Communication is a challenging risk in health care industries and the low income population consisting of the African, Native, Asian, and Latinos Americans has a need for health literacy training, understand basic health information, health prevention and maintenance. The HLE program will address this need by using qualified health care personnel in all its training sessions.
Nutrition/Wellness Program:
Nutritional training, Counseling; year around services for children, Seniors, Obese Youths, Diabetes, including after-school programs and summer programs that provide a safe and stimulating environment for children to play and more importantly learn in. Creative Garden programs that expose young people ages 3-17 about nature and how it yields produce. Children actually maintain a garden from inception and eat from their labors once the food grows. Along with senior peer mentors, the children are taught to respect the elderly and the planet.
Obesity/Diabetics:
There are a number of health issues affecting children, youths, and women, but obesity is considered a high area of focus as it is one of health epidemic. Youth and adults who are obese are at risk of developing long-term health issue. Much of the chronic disease associate with obesity may be prevented by regular exercise, healthy eating etc. Physical inactivity and unhealthy eating contribute to obesity and a number of chronic diseases such as diabetics, hypertension, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Being overweight may contribute to poor self-image and low self-esteem among youths.