The Health & Wellness Literacy component constitutes the educational curriculum of the WelCare Initiative's intervention for patients/clients, health-professionals/caregivers and volunteers.  Working in concert with the Well-in-12 calendar, the Health & Wellness Literacy component addresses the second objective of the Initiative with an invitation to the community to actively engage its own well-being by learning about and adopting health-promoting behaviors.  The Health & Wellness Literacy will be offered in categories.

    Patient Curriculum
    Caregivers Curriculum
    Vendors' Workshops

St. Vincent's will offer patients/clients a four-module curriculum which will include physical, mental and spiritual wellness and the move to practice.  Using videos, weekly seminars and/or monthly workshops, the participants will have the opportunity to learn more about their physical health and their bodies.  The idea of understanding your body, yourself as your "health home" is designed to help clients understand how food, medications and other drugs affect them in both the short and long run.  The mental health module will focus on wellness education and the influence of attitudes, values and beliefs on making choices about one's health.  Module three on spiritual health is designed to provide a holistic approach to gaining strength to face hard choices, culminating in a move to practicing the choices that must be made to improve health and begin to heal.

St. Vincent's plans to develop a three-module curriculum for health care professionals, caregivers and other St. Vincent's volunteers.  The goal of this curriculum is to allow health professionals and students to gain the knowledge and reflective stance needed to accompany their work serving the community.  The WelCare Initiative envisions this curriculum as a tool that will be available on-line which can be used in monthly orientations for medical students and faculty who rotate through the clinic.  The focus of this curriculum will be on issues surrounding indigent health care:

    - Understanding health policy as it relates to the uninsured.
    - Health disparities in minority populations.
    - Medical professionalism:  Providing care with dignity for the medically underserved population.

The third category for vendors will be modified per vendor interaction in the Initiative.

Finally, we believe an educated patient is better equipped to be proactive in their health & wellness.  We would like to start your education process by providing brief descriptions of health risks/issues related to obesity, diabetes, smoking and cancer.  Please check-out the below information and get with your health care provider if you have questions or for further information.
    Cancer - Depression and Cancer
    Diabetes - Depression and Diabetes
    Nutrition and Exercise - AHA Nutrition and Exercise; AHA La nutricion y el ejercicio
    Heart Attack - AHA Heart Attack and Stroke; AHA El ataque cardiaco y el derrame cerebral
    Blood Pressure - AHA Blood Pressure; AHA La presion alta
    Smoking & Heart Disease - AHA Smoking & Heart Disease; AHA El consumo del cigarillo y las enfermedades del
    corazon
    High Cholesterol - AHA High Cholesterol; AHA Colesterol alto
    Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke - AHA CVD and Stroke; Las enfermedades cardiovasculares y el derrame cerebral

Please contact St. Vincent's House for a schedule of classes or questions at (409) 763-8521 or stvhope@swbell.net.