Health Module

Unit 2: A Healthy Community

Lesson 2:  Examining Health Trends in Fairfax County

The purpose of the lesson is twofold.  First, it exposes learners to statistical information on health in their county.  Second, it gives them basic exposure to health information sites on the web.  They don’t have to gather information on a health topic yet; they critically examine different websites and assess them for usability.

Materials Needed:

• Flipchart or board and markers/chalk

• Handout 1, 2

• Computers with Internet access

• Websites: www.medlineplus.gov, www.noah-health.org 

It is suggested that you go over the Word Bank after the Introductory Activity so the answers aren’t given away in advance.

Word Bank:

risk factors
trend
bronchitis
hypertension
high cholesterol
diabetes
URL
Link
Click
Scroll down

Introductory Activity: What do you think?  Whole group discussion

• What do you think are the biggest health problems in Fairfax County?
• Why do you think so?
   

Activity 1:  County Health Statistics

• Now we are going to look at some statistics from the Fairfax County Health Department.  These statistics are about people who came into one of the 3 low-cost clinics in Fairfax County in for one year, from 2000 to 2001.  Look at the handout I’m giving you, and tell me what you see.

Distribute Handout 1.  Talk about how to read the chart and what students see.  Then distribute Handout 2 and have students complete it.  Correct it as a whole group.
 

Activity 2:  Taking a Look at Internet Health Information

• Many people in the United States use the Internet to find out about different health conditions.  Today, we are going to look at different health websites and see if we can find one that’s easy for you to understand.

• If there are some people who have experience searching on the Web, I’d like you to work together on one computer with someone who has less experience.
  
  Pairing experienced and less experienced learners should make the instructor’s job easier in this lesson, as it involves moving around various websites.  Make sure the experienced learners don’t take over the mouse! 
   

• Let’s use one of conditions that is common in Fairfax County to look at the health sites.  How about bronchitis?

• I’m going to give you some addresses for different health websites.  Let’s look at the first one together.  Type in the URL www.medlineplus.gov.

• What do you think we should click on now to get information about bronchitis?

• We need to click on “Health Topics.”

• Now what should we click on?

• We click on B for bronchitis.  What next?

• We scroll down the list to look for bronchitis.  Click on bronchitis.

• Now we have a lot of choices.  There are many links to information about bronchitis.  First, lets scroll down to “Pictures/Diagrams” to see a picture of the bronchi.  Do you see the bronchi in the picture?

• Now let’s close the window by clicking on the X.  Let’s look under General/Overview to find general information on bronchitis.  Let’s click on the first one there: acute bronchitis (American Academy of Family Physicians).

• Take a look at this site.  Can you read it easily?  Is the language clear?  Let’s read a little together and talk about it.

• What other information is on this web page?  Let’s scroll down and look.

• What do you think?  Is this a good site for you to find information on bronchitis?  Why or why not?

• Now close the window and we’ll go back to Medline Plus.  Let’s click on the other one, chronic bronchitis. 

Go over a little bit of this site with the students.  Ask them which they like better, the first or second site.  Ask them what made one site easier, if anything.

 
Activity 3:  Exploring on your own

• Now I want you to go to a new site:

www.noah-health.org. This is a health site with many links on many conditions.  When you get to the site, click on health topics.  Then look for one of the Fairfax County common illnesses: diabetes, high cholesterol, bronchitis, or hypertension.  Click on different links for one condition.  Write down the URL of the site you go to, then write down what you think of the site.  Write notes about these questions:

These questions can be written on the board.

• Is it easy or difficult English?

• Is it easy to look at, or is there too much information?

• Are there pictures that help you understand?

• Are there a lot of commercials on the site, or is it more serious?

• Are the links easy to understand?  Do you know where to click, or do you get lost?

• When you’re finished, write an email to me telling me what site you liked the most, and why you liked it.  Explain what was helpful about it.  Tell me if you will look for health information on the Internet in the future.

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