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MUSC offers prescription for reading to children by Chris Darnell Coordinator, Patient Support Services, Ambulatory Cares Volunteer Belva McIntosh passes out books to children at MUSC’s Pediatric Primary Care Clinic on Cannon Street in celebration of Family Literacy Day. Why is MUSC offering a new literacy program to pediatric patients at their well-child clinic visits? We know that literacy and health are related. We know that children who do well in school will lead healthier and more productive lives. So, to help children get a healthier start, we will start Reach Out and Read-Charleston in two ambulatory care clinics this month.   In February, MUSC received approval to start the innovative program. The initiative is a collaboration among MUSC’s College of Nursing, College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, the Children’s Hospital Department of Child Life, MUSC Volunteer Services and the Trident Literacy Association. It is designed to increase literacy by making it an integral part of pediatric primary care. The effort has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and is part of the White House Prescription for Reading Partnership.   The national Reach Out and Read program was founded in 1989 at Boston City Hospital. It has been replicated in more than 450 hospitals and clinics and currently serves more than 720,000 children. At present, there are 18 designated sites in South Carolina.   The initiative has three primary components: volunteers reading aloud to children in clinic waiting rooms;  pediatric providers counseling parents about literacy developments and reading at each visit, providing parents a “prescription” to read to their child each day; and children receiving a new children’s book at each well child visit from birth to 5 years of age.   The children will receive nine books that are age and culturally appropriate by the time they are 2 years of age and 12 books by the time they start kindergarten. The effectiveness of providing books to infants and children during their first five years of life will be evaluated through research in the program.   Read Out and Read-Charleston provides children and families information that will affect their health and improve readiness for school. We will make a difference in the community by helping families help their child prepare for the future.   “Children see their primary care provider 12 times for well child-care between birth and age 5,” said Kelly Havig-Lipke, M.D., assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics and medical director for the program.  “This gives the provider an opportunity to discuss the importance of reading out loud to a child to stimulate language and cognitive development.”    According to Marie Lobo, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Community Care, College of Nursing, 51 percent of clinic parents consider reading to their child as one of three favorite activities. Sixty percent of parents see reading to their child as an activity that will help prepare that child for school, and yet only 30 percent of parents use reading as part of the bedtime ritual. She notes that such information will be valuable in evaluating the impact of  Reach Out and Read-Charleston.    A 1985 National Commission on Reading reported that children’s experiences of being read to as the single most important predictor of later reading success.    Research at the Boston Medical Center in 1991 found that mothers who participated in the program were four times more likely to read to their children than mothers from similar backgrounds who had not participated in the program.   The effort in Charleston will begin with pilot programs at two MUSC pediatric clinics. One site will be the Pediatric Primary Care Clinic at 165 Cannon Street, and the second site will be the Nurse Midwifery and Pediatric Center at 159 Rutledge Avenue. Once these two locations are up and running, the intent is to expand the program further into the community.   If you would like to participate in the program as a volunteer, please call Susanne Banks in Volunteer Services at 792-7038. Contact Havig-Lipke or Lobo if your department is interested in having a book drive for the program, or if you have other questions.