Episode 74 - Turning Complex Healthcare Information Into Content People Can Use - with Tim Jones

In the latest episode of The Health Literacy 2.0 Podcast, Seth Serxner speaks with Tim Jones of Health Nuts Media about using storytelling, animation, and smarter communication to help people understand healthcare and act on it.

With an undergraduate degree in creative writing, Tim Jones began his career in Hollywood, film, television, and digital media before creating health education content for children and families. A project called Coping with Chemo showed him how animation could make frightening information feel emotionally safe, leading him to launch Health Nuts Media and focus on age-appropriate health literacy for hospitals, pediatric units, veterans, and families.

Seth and Tim also discuss:

☑️ Emotionally Safe Storytelling: Animation can create enough distance for children and families to process difficult topics without feeling overwhelmed. Tim saw this firsthand when a young cancer survivor said the videos gave her the strength to complete chemotherapy.

☑️ Health Literacy 1.0 Has Limits: Pamphlets and basic online information still have a role, but hospitals often don’t treat health literacy as a high enough priority amid tight budgets and competing demands.

☑️ Navigation Is Part of Care: The VA’s challenge wasn’t only explaining treatments. Veterans and families also needed help understanding what would happen next and how to move through a complicated healthcare system.

☑️ Meet People Where They Are: Health education can appear in waiting rooms, patient portals, phones, and even disposable video tablets. Tim shared that 97% of veterans had cell phones and internet access, while tablets helped reach veterans who didn’t.

☑️ Reframing Palliative Care: A short three-minute video focused on reducing the burden on family members. After watching it, 100% of veterans said they were willing to discuss palliative care at their appointment.

☑️ How You Say It Matters: Clinical experts know what needs to be communicated, while creative teams can shape the message so people actually engage with it. A pamphlet alone may end up in the lobby trash can.

☑️ Measure the Cost of Confusion: Boston Children’s faced a 7% failure rate around pre-surgery NPO instructions. A playful Goldilocks-themed video helped turn a serious instruction into something families could remember.

☑️ Align the Incentives: Tim Jones argues that employers, hospitals, and payers need stronger incentives to make health literacy part of standard care. Capitated models, such as the VA’s, have more reason to invest because poor communication can drive avoidable costs.

☑️ Start Earlier: Health literacy shouldn’t begin during a crisis. Tim believes teaching children how to understand and manage health can shape lifetime health, behavior, and even earnings.

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Want to see how EdLogics' gamified platform can boost health literacy, drive engagement in health and wellness programs, and help people live happier, healthier lives?

Visit the EdLogics website: www.edlogics.com.

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