The Health Literacy Council’s program “Establishing Equity Through Literacy,” centers on helping everyone gain the knowledge needed to make informed health decisions. Greg O’Neill, co-chair of the Health Literacy Council of Delaware, accepts the proclamation in June 2025.
For Delawareans, Health Literacy is practical: clearer information, greater understanding and a stronger foundation for making health decisions.
By John Riddle, Contributing Journalist, Delaware LIVE
A healthcare decision can begin with a question. But when the answer comes wrapped in unfamiliar terms, complicated instructions or confusing paperwork, understanding what to do next can become a challenge of its own.
The Health Literacy Council of Delaware wants to help change that.
Formed in 2022, the council brings together healthcare leaders, community partners and advocates with a shared goal: making health information and healthcare easier for Delawareans to understand.
Its vision, “Establishing Equity Through Literacy,” centers on helping everyone gain the knowledge needed to make informed health decisions. Its work includes advocating for education and policy changes, strengthening partnerships and encouraging clearer communication throughout the healthcare system.
For Greg O’Neill, co-chair of the Health Literacy Council of Delaware, collaboration is an important starting point.
“Delaware has strong momentum around health literacy, bringing together healthcare systems, community organizations, and public health leaders around a shared goal: making health information and healthcare easier to understand for everyone,” O’Neill said.
Turning that momentum into lasting improvements requires more than distributing information. The council’s strategies address how health information is developed, shared, taught and supported across the state.
One priority is creating policies and guidelines that provide ongoing support for health literacy programs. Another involves engaging healthcare and government leaders to encourage consistent practices throughout Delaware.
The council also promotes health literacy campaigns that reach public and private audiences, emphasizing the importance of helping people understand information that affects their health.
Clear materials are another focus. The council helps leaders identify and use health information that is accessible, accurate and easy to understand. Its education goals include incorporating health literacy into school lessons and professional training programs.
Together, those efforts aim to make understandable communication a regular part of healthcare and community education.
Still, measuring progress presents a challenge.
“We still have work to do as health literacy has yet to be built into the systems that we use to measure progress,” O’Neill said.
The council is developing proposals to build on existing data, gather testimonials and highlight community needs. Those efforts could help document experiences while providing a clearer picture of where additional support is needed.
Building the organization itself also takes time.
“Like any new organization, HLCD is still working on building our network, solidifying stakeholder commitments, and raising awareness about the size of the health literacy issue,” O’Neill said.
Much of that work depends on people contributing their time and expertise alongside other responsibilities.
“The majority of the work comes through hours of volunteer time from leaders around the state and most of the work is grant funded so in that sense HLCD is like any small non-profit enterprise working for the public good,” he said.
Competing demands in healthcare delivery, changes in health communication and evolving community needs add to the challenge, according to O’Neill. Those pressures reinforce the council’s case for investing in health literacy, even as they make securing attention and resources more difficult.
The council’s approach places responsibility on organizations and leaders as well as the people seeking information. Making healthcare easier to understand requires examining the messages people receive and the systems they must navigate.
For Delawareans, the goal is practical: clearer information, greater understanding and a stronger foundation for making health decisions.
For the council, the next steps involve expanding partnerships, strengthening support and finding better ways to demonstrate progress.
Its work begins with a straightforward idea: health information can serve people better when they can understand it. Bringing that idea into everyday practice is the mission connecting the council’s volunteers, healthcare partners and community advocates across Delaware as they work toward lasting improvements in health communication.
John Riddle is a freelance writer, author, ghostwriter and donut eater who works out of his home office in Delaware. He is the author of 34 books with a variety of traditional publishers, and so far has self-published 3 books for writers. His byline has appeared in major publications all across the United States, and he has written articles for over 200 websites.
In 2002 he launched “I Love To Write Day” as a grassroots campaign to have people of all ages spend time writing every November 15th. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of ILTWD, he published the “I Love To Write Day Creative Writing Journal” which is still available on Amazon. He is a speaker at Christian and secular writing conferences throughout the U.S., and recently spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Visit ilovetowriteday.com for more info.
