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Case Study: Cook County Department of Public Health
Sector: Public Health
Project: Organizational health literacy toolkit and web hub
Audience + Purpose: Create a tool to share strategies with public health and other community-facing organizations in suburban Cook County to support their work toward a health literate public health system
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Goals:
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Create a tool promoting organizational health literacy strategies that is useful, practical, and accessible to staff in various roles
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Acknowledge the various types of organizations that fall under the umbrella of public health work
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Model plain language and clear information design in the tool's development and presentation
Goals:
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Develop a web hub that houses the Advancing Organizational Health Literacy toolkit and provide supplementary activities and resources to explore
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Act as a centralized home for future materials and updates related to the project
Big Takeaways:
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There are still a lot of misconceptions when it comes to health literacy - it is a big culture shift to move away from focusing mainly on personal health literacy toward addressing systemic issues through an organizational health literacy lens
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It's important to remember that professionals are busy - we should deliver information to them in ways that are easy to find, understand and use, too!
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Engaging folx in processes takes time, but is worth it. 50+ people from 20+ organizations contributed to the development of these tools!)
In May 2025, we recognized CCDPH as our Community Leader honoree for their team's dedication to advancing a public health system that works for all in suburban Cook County. We love their commitment to community, the support and guidance they provide, and their leadership in the field around organizational health literacy. Check out our 2025 video with with CCDPH's Dr. Darcie Moeller to learn more about their work.