Return to Main Menu

Reading program serves as a prescription by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations The Children’s Hospital has spawned a new reading program in its pediatric emergency department (ED) that some have called a prescription for improving the lives of children and their parents.   The Reach Out and Read (ROR) program has become a way to comfort sick and frightened children in the hospital and also a vehicle  to impress upon parents the importance of reading aloud to their children.   While the hospital has employed an ROR program since 1999, it recently launched the state’s first ROR program for a pediatric emergency department. To support this effort, the ROR National Center awarded the hospital a grant totaling $18,600, which will be used to purchase books for children ages 6 months to age 5 treated in the Children’s Hospital ED.   To jumpstart the program, MUSC received a donation of 200 books from Scholastic Corp., a publisher and distributor of children’s books. That first shipment of books was distributed to youngsters who passed through the Children’s Hospital emergency department since August. Another shipment of 500 books has been ordered and some of these will include bilingual books.   The Children’s Hospital ED sees about 19,000 children a year and the grant should help purchase books for children visiting the emergency department. The  hospital also plans to raise funds to keep the program going in the future.   MUSC’s ED reading program was adapted after a program established at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Hospital in Richmond, Va. MUSC pediatric nurse Melanie Wakefield, R.N., assisted in starting the program at VCU and launched the one at MUSC’s pediatric ED. She said that ROR helps connect the provider with the families and improves the care of the child.   “We are there for that family at home as well as in the ER,” Wakefield said. “I say that, because for many of these families, we are their only resource for information.”   So that the reading program continues for the child and parent, Wakefield said she hopes the ROR program will be coordinated with other literacy programs in the community for family referral.   She also said that books, both new and “gently used,” will be solicited from people wishing to support the program. The books, she said, are age appropriate for children ages 6 months to 5 years, and a list of titles has been compiled for potential benefactors.   The program serves as a platform to encourage parents to read to their children, but also to detect whether the child has ever been exposed to books.   “Some children are pretty sick and don’t feel like being read to,” Wakefield said. “For those that wish to, we engage the parent. But we also use it as a tool to see what the child does with the book, so it becomes an assessment tool.”   Meanwhile, volunteers are trained to approach parents about reading to their child, a task that an MUSC pediatric surgeon has taken on with enthusiasm.   “This is a real boon to the pediatric ED,” said Biemann Othersen, M.D., director emeritus, pediatric surgery. Othersen became so interested in the program that he accepted a seat at the state ROR board. His job is to help train volunteers for the ROR program at various sites including the pediatric ED  at MUSC. Othersen said the interest and support for the program among MUSC staff have been outstanding.   “We’ve had four different shifts to get people involved,” Othersen said. “At the four training sessions, we’ve trained approximately 35 people. And all of these were staff in the pediatric ED—the physicians, the techs, nurses—everyone who runs pediatric ED.”   Volunteer readers from off-campus also are urged to participate. As a result, ED pediatrician Olivia Titus, M.D., has recruited her mother, Mary Lou Titus, from Richmond, Va., to come in and read to the children.   “She loves children,” Titus said of her mother, who also will soon be a first-time grandmother. “She also will love the hands-on interaction with the children, as well as working with Melanie behind the scenes to ensure the program thrives for many years. I know the program is in the greatest of hands with both Melanie and my mom on board, and I am very proud to work in a place that supports this initiative.”   Of Wakefield, Titus said, “Melanie has been doing amazing work to get this program up and running in the ED. Her organization, initiative and enthusiasm are so outstanding and she is the catalyst that will keep the program going for many years.”   The ROR program, which will require a dedicated team of volunteers to read to the children, is much more than just books.   “It’s just like a prescription,” Othersen said. “It isn’t about giving away free books, but teaching parents how to read. It’s like a prescription to the parent to teach them the importance of reading aloud to their children.”   Othersen said that as part of their practice, many private pediatricians teach parents about reading aloud to children. It has become a key therapeutic and developmental tool for children, Othersen said.   “[But] many of the children that come through the ER don’t have a private pediatrician,” Othersen said. “Many of these parents don’t have the resources to buy books.”   So the pediatric ER staff provides the same benefits as a visit to a pediatrician at an office, and the ROR provides books for the child and parent to read and also to take home with them.   “Studies have proven that one of the most important things a pediatrician does, which has been shown to effectively impact positively on a child’s development, is impressing upon parents the importance of reading, and reading aloud to children,” Othersen said. “It really helps the children. This program will be a real plus for the pediatric ER, and a real long-lasting benefit to the patients and their families.”   Othersen credits the nurses with bringing the program to MUSC and into the ED.   “I really applaud the nurses, because the nurses in the ER are the ones who really pushed this thing through,” Othersen said.   Nationwide, ROR has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, serves 2.4 million children annually and distributes more than 4 million books each year. The program at MUSC’s Pediatric ED is a collaboration between the Children’s Hospital ED and MUSC Children’s Hospital Volunteer Services. It is designed to increase literacy by making it an integral part of pediatric primary care.   Established at Boston City Hospital in 1989, the national non-profit ROR promotes literacy among pediatric patients, primarily in children’s hospitals.   The grant will require MUSC to establish its own fundraising to help sustain the program in the future.   For more information on the ROR program or for those wishing to donate books, contact Christine Messick at 792-3120, messickc@musc.edu or Melanie Wakefield at wakefiel@musc.edu.     Friday, Sept. 8, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.