Children's Hospital Joins Child Literacy Campaign
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 8, 2010) – Kentucky Children's Hospital pediatricians and health professionals are part of Reach Out and Read, the nationwide school readiness program, to help prepare young children to do their best in school.
The Reach Out and Read Program at Kentucky Children's Hospital and the hospital's medical providers have pledged to distribute more than 1,000 books to children in need over the next two months during well child visits in the general pediatrics and continuity clinics.
Dr. Rhya Strifling and Dr. Donna Grigsby, pediatricians at the Kentucky Children's Hospital clinics, and Mary Dorough, a nurse at the clinics, are coordinating the distribution of books. All physicians and nurses in the general pediatrics clinics are involved in giving books to children.
"We rejoined the Reach Out and Read program three years ago, and each year we have given out more than 5,000 brand-new books to our patients," Strifling said. "It is a great program to be a part of, especially when you get to see the children’s eyes light up at the sight of a colorful new book of their very own.”
According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test, 64 percent of Kentucky's fourth graders cannot read proficiently. Stifling says it is very important to help children develop their reading skills early in life and before they start to school.
The 70 Reach Out and Read Programs in Kentucky serve a total of 53,000 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers by giving out 80,000 books annually.
How you can help
- Donate a book or sponsor a child online through Reach Out and Read's Virtual Book Drive.
- Organize a book drive for the Reach Out and Read Program in your community.
- Most importantly, read to the children in your life every day.
Learn more about the Summer of a Million Books campaign at http://www.reachoutandread.org/summer/.