Making "I Can Get an Ultrasound" Accessible
Last month we released our first children’s book, “I Can Get an Ultrasound.” But I realized that just putting the page images on our website meant some people wouldn’t be able to access it. Anyone who needed larger text, a different font, or a screen reader, a tool that reads what’s on the screen out loud, wouldn’t be able to read the book.
First, I added alternative text (alt text) to each image. Alt text is a written description of what’s in the image, so a screen reader can describe it. That helped, but someone still wouldn’t be able to navigate through the book well or get the same experience as someone reading the images. They also couldn’t change the text to make it easier to read.
Then I tried creating an accessible PDF. It’s harder than you’d think! This still didn’t solve the problem for someone who needed larger text or a different font. And I struggled to ensure someone could easily navigate to different parts of the story.
Then I discovered that eBooks solved all of these problems. An eBook lets a screen reader move through the book the way it was meant to be read: page by page. Someone can also navigate by chapter, search for words, and use bookmarks. And if they need larger text or a different font, they can adjust it to fit their needs. A PDF, even an accessible one, locks the layout in place so the user can’t change how the text looks.
I won’t lie; it took me a while to make the eBook. But I think the time investment was worth it. We can now share “I Can Get an Ultrasound” with more people and make more accessible resources in the future.
If you know anyone who uses a screen reader, I’d love to hear about their experience reading the book. As our first one, I’m sure there are ways to improve it. And please reach out if you have any other ideas!
— Aaron
Get Your Copy
Print: Order on Amazon for the kids version or teens+ version. Need copies for a clinic, school, or community center? Email info@healthed4everyone.org. We’re working on bulk pricing.
Digital: Free on Apple Books, Google Play, and other major eBook platforms. Amazon requires a minimum price of $0.99, but you can always download it for free at linktr.ee/HealthEd4Everyone or read it on our website.
Can ChatGPT Health Tell You When to Go to the ER?
This infographic summarizes findings from a Nature Medicine study. Doctors picked health problems and wrote patient stories for each. They tested each one multiple times on ChatGPT Health. All results shown are without labs, physical exam, or vital signs.
For problems that should be watched at home: 9 out of 10 patient stories were told to get more care than they needed.
For problems that should go to the emergency room: 5 out of 10 patient stories were told to get less care than they needed.
The Help Is Available crisis helpline was unreliable. For patient stories most at risk for suicide: 7 out of 10 high risk patient stories did not get a help banner.
Have you used ChatGPT to figure out if you should see a doctor? Or if you need to go to an emergency room?
A new study found that ChatGPT Health might be wrong about how soon you need to see a doctor. It told people to see a doctor when they could safely stay home. But the scarier finding was it told almost half of the patient stories needing the emergency room to see a doctor in the next day or two. This means someone with a dangerous health problem might not get medical care in time.
For patient stories where someone was at high risk of suicide, ChatGPT Health didn’t connect them to help most of the time. If you or someone you know needs help, 988 is a free, confidential number where you can talk, text, or chat with someone.
If you’re not sure how soon to see the doctor, be careful if you use AI. You can call your doctor’s office instead and ask a nurse. Or most insurance companies have a nurse line you can call. If you’re really worried, go to the emergency room or urgent care.
Read the full post: Can ChatGPT Tell You How Soon You Need a Doctor?
Got a High Blood Pressure Reading?
A high blood pressure reading can be scary. We all know how dangerous high blood pressure is. But for most people a few high readings are okay. Stress, coffee, and even needing to use the bathroom can result in a high reading. This post explains things you can do after a high reading and easy ways to troubleshoot.
Read the full post: I Got a High Blood Pressure Reading. Should I Be Worried?
Updates
Website: We’re currently redoing the pages to make it easier to find what you need on each one and easier to use. We appreciate everyone who’s let us know about problems on our pages. We’re also interviewing volunteers to audit the user experience to get more feedback on how we can improve.
Accessibility: We’re replacing infographics with HTML, so screen readers can better access the information.
STI Resources: The symptom-based pages are under review.
“I Can Go to the Doctor” (Book 2): Our illustrator Rosie is making good progress on the illustrations. This book helps kids prepare for doctor visits.
Our Team: We welcomed new volunteers this month to help with marketing, social media, and research. We’re also interviewing someone to audit our website so we can make it easier for you to find what you need. And we’ve been meeting with people interested in joining our board!
How to Support Our Work
Donate – Your donation helps us print our children’s books, create sexual health resources, and provide free materials to communities that need them.
Every donation, whether $10 or $100, helps us reach more people.
Donate now → https://donorbox.org/healthed
Volunteer – We’re a small team and we grow through people who want to help. Right now we’re looking for help with social media, fundraising, and evaluating how well our resources work for the people who use them. If any of that sounds like you, or if you have other skills to offer, we’d love to hear from you.
Email info@HealthEd4Everyone.org to get involved.
Help Us Improve – Have an idea for how we can make our resources better? A topic we should cover? Something on our website that’s hard to find or confusing? We want to hear it.
Email info@HealthEd4Everyone.org or suggest a topic if you want to send one in anonymously.
Spread the Word – Know someone who might benefit from easy-to-understand health information? Forward this newsletter or share HealthEd4Everyone.org
