Reaching out with a book

New program at NUMC encourages early literacy

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The Nassau University Medical Center cut the ribbon for its Reach Out and Read Program on Aug. 13, an extension of a national program that promotes early literacy among children as young as six months of age.

According to the nonprofit Reach Out and Read, children who are read to in their early infancy stages are more likely to enter kindergarten better prepared to succeed. Their website adds that reading aloud stimulates a child’s cognitive, language and vocabulary skills, while also building motivation, curiosity and memory.

Since its foundation in 1989 in the Boston Medical Center, Reach Out and Read has extended to nearly 5,000 program sites and distributes 6.5 million books per year.

The program’s model relies on trained doctors and nurses speaking with parents on the importance of reading aloud to their young children. At Reach Out and Read sites, children aged six months to five years receive age-appropriate books to take home.

At the NUMC, the pediatric waiting room will become an interactive, enriching reading site loaded with hundreds of books available to children. Books will also be available within exam rooms, said Dina Lieser, the hospital’s director of community pediatrics. “The idea is we want parents to read to their kids every day,” Lieser said. “We see ourselves as a real important partner for children’s overall success.”

According to Lieser, the average child makes 15 regular checkups to their area hospital before they turn five, a time that can be better utilized to encourage reading. “If we want to foster healthy development,” she said, “we need to think about early learning as much as health and well-being.”

The pediatric waiting room, on the hospital’s first floor, will not only be stacked with books, said Lieser, but with “reader-teers” to read aloud to children, as well as arts and crafts.

The program was made possible by donations from local organizations, including $6,500 raised by the East Meadow Chamber of commerce in its “Walk, Ride, Read for Success” fundraiser at Eisenhower Park last May, arranged by Chamber President Steven Haller and his committee of Alan Beinhacker, Millie Jones and Christine Mooney, with the help of Lieser, NUMC nurses Carla Vultaggio and Terry Rein, and Linda Walsh, the hospital’s volunteer coordinator. “It’s such a good message because the Chamber is thinking about community development,” said Lieser, “and there’s no better way to do that than reaching out to kids.”

Haller said that the May fundraiser raised $6,100 and Westbury-based accountant, Nicholas Agnone, supplied $400 to round out the donation.

First Book Long Island, an organization that provides books to disadvantaged children, also donated $5,000. East Meadow residents Frank and Joan Saracino donated $1,000. Frank is a former superintendent of the East Meadow School District.

Dr. David Fagan said it was his vision to bring Reach Out and Read to the NUMC since he became the chairman of the pediatrics department in January 2012, and asked Lieser to look into it. “She made this happen in eight months,” Fagan said.

According to its website, parents who are served by Reach Out and Read are four times more likely to read to their children.

Lieser said she had to apply to Reach Out and Read to make the NUMC a program site, and gaining approval was half the battle, as she needed to raise funds and excitement for the program.

It will continue to be a partnership with the community, she said, and the hospital will need donations to continue replenishing their book supply.

At the ribbon cutting, hospital officials, including Victor Politi — the president and CEO of NuHealth, which manages the NUMC — were joined by County Executive Ed Mangano, acting Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter, members of the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce, and the Saracinos.