Just what the doctor ordered
The Center for Family Health in Springfield is prescribing reading to young patients during their regular checkups.
The center is promoting literacy through the national Reach Out and Read program that provides books to young children through their doctors or pediatricians.
The partnership began in April with an initial grant of 100 books from Reach Out and Read.
Recently, the family practice in Springfield received a $1,000 grant from the Hamilton Family Foundation to continue the program.
Children who are regularly scheduled for well-child visits, which evaluate weight, height, vision and hearing between the ages of six months to five years old, receive age-appropriate books from their physicians. Before the age of five, a child will receive about ten books during their regular checkup visits.
In addition to handing out books, the family health center also provides gently used books in the waiting room that children can read and take home. The children’s books distributed during the visits are available in multiple languages and in bilingual form to encourage parental involvement no matter what language a family speaks.
At each site, Reach Out and Read trains doctors and medical staff to talk to children about the importance of reading and how to distribute age-appropriate book titles.
Center for Family Health physician Peter Warrington initiated the program at the center and called literacy a fundamental part of learning. At each well-child visit, Warrington encourages parents and children to read to each other, and he is spreading the word about the program to other family practices throughout the Crozer-Keystone Health Network.
“We, as family physicians in outpatient practices, can help parents help their children acquire the skill of literacy. Parents can play a powerful part in helping their child to develop reading skills before starting kindergarten,” Warrington said.
The center is home to a Crozer-Keystone Health Network residency-training program that Warrington hopes will help inspire young doctors to implement the program in their future practices.
Practice manager Cathie Gorzalski plans to meet with the Springfield Library in coming weeks to find and distribute information about adult literacy opportunities to the center’s patients.
Gorzalski thinks the program will have a positive effect on children’s interest in reading in the long run.
“It’s really wonderful to see the children in the reading area with a book and to also be excited about receiving a book during their visits. It increases their interest in reading and helps them relax,” she said.
According to Reach Out and Read spokesman Matt Ferraguto, the effort began in 1989 by doctors and early childhood educators who realized the low-income children they were serving had few books in their homes and were not gaining the early literacy skills they needed.
About 40 percent of patients who attend The Center for Family Health in Springfield have no medical insurance or receive some form of medical assistance, according to Warrington.
Ferraguto encouraged parents to begin reading to children six months or younger to help them form positive associations with reading. He said children at the poverty level are least likely to have children’s books in the home and be read to every day.
“Currently we serve about 25 percent of children who live at or near the poverty level. Our goal is to serve 100 percent of children,” he said, “We would like Reach Out and Read to be a part of every pediatrician’s office in America.”
The nonprofit program is supported in part by government, corporate and individual funding. Since the program began it has expanded to about 4,500 hospitals, health care centers, pediatric practices, and clinics nationwide and provides books in 12 different languages. The organization has donated over 20 million books to children and this year will provide about 6 million books. The cost of the program is about $40 per child.
According to the program’s Web site (www.reachoutandread.org), each participating site is responsible for raising funds and publicity in order to receive books and support from their communities The national Reach Out and Read Program, and its regional coalitions also assist in ensuring the success of the literacy program at a particular site.
In Pennsylvania there are 91 Reach Out and Read sites serving about 71,000 children.
The center is promoting literacy through the national Reach Out and Read program that provides books to young children through their doctors or pediatricians.
The partnership began in April with an initial grant of 100 books from Reach Out and Read.
Recently, the family practice in Springfield received a $1,000 grant from the Hamilton Family Foundation to continue the program.
Children who are regularly scheduled for well-child visits, which evaluate weight, height, vision and hearing between the ages of six months to five years old, receive age-appropriate books from their physicians. Before the age of five, a child will receive about ten books during their regular checkup visits.
In addition to handing out books, the family health center also provides gently used books in the waiting room that children can read and take home. The children’s books distributed during the visits are available in multiple languages and in bilingual form to encourage parental involvement no matter what language a family speaks.
At each site, Reach Out and Read trains doctors and medical staff to talk to children about the importance of reading and how to distribute age-appropriate book titles.
Center for Family Health physician Peter Warrington initiated the program at the center and called literacy a fundamental part of learning. At each well-child visit, Warrington encourages parents and children to read to each other, and he is spreading the word about the program to other family practices throughout the Crozer-Keystone Health Network.
“We, as family physicians in outpatient practices, can help parents help their children acquire the skill of literacy. Parents can play a powerful part in helping their child to develop reading skills before starting kindergarten,” Warrington said.
The center is home to a Crozer-Keystone Health Network residency-training program that Warrington hopes will help inspire young doctors to implement the program in their future practices.
Practice manager Cathie Gorzalski plans to meet with the Springfield Library in coming weeks to find and distribute information about adult literacy opportunities to the center’s patients.
Gorzalski thinks the program will have a positive effect on children’s interest in reading in the long run.
“It’s really wonderful to see the children in the reading area with a book and to also be excited about receiving a book during their visits. It increases their interest in reading and helps them relax,” she said.
According to Reach Out and Read spokesman Matt Ferraguto, the effort began in 1989 by doctors and early childhood educators who realized the low-income children they were serving had few books in their homes and were not gaining the early literacy skills they needed.
About 40 percent of patients who attend The Center for Family Health in Springfield have no medical insurance or receive some form of medical assistance, according to Warrington.
Ferraguto encouraged parents to begin reading to children six months or younger to help them form positive associations with reading. He said children at the poverty level are least likely to have children’s books in the home and be read to every day.
“Currently we serve about 25 percent of children who live at or near the poverty level. Our goal is to serve 100 percent of children,” he said, “We would like Reach Out and Read to be a part of every pediatrician’s office in America.”
The nonprofit program is supported in part by government, corporate and individual funding. Since the program began it has expanded to about 4,500 hospitals, health care centers, pediatric practices, and clinics nationwide and provides books in 12 different languages. The organization has donated over 20 million books to children and this year will provide about 6 million books. The cost of the program is about $40 per child.
According to the program’s Web site (www.reachoutandread.org), each participating site is responsible for raising funds and publicity in order to receive books and support from their communities The national Reach Out and Read Program, and its regional coalitions also assist in ensuring the success of the literacy program at a particular site.
In Pennsylvania there are 91 Reach Out and Read sites serving about 71,000 children.
