Reach Out and Read
Partnering with pediatricians to help families discover the joy of reading.
Reach Out and Read was founded in 1989 to help families make reading a part of their routines, and to supply the books they need to get started.
The program promotes reading by providing the healthcare staff in the Pediatric Outpatient Clinics at Bellevue with books which they can give to both parents and children at the time of clinical appointments. The Bellevue Association has a long standing commitment to the Reach Out and Read program at Bellevue which has its own full time staff members and has proven very effective in reaching and impacting its target population.
How It Happens
IN THE WAITING ROOM
IN THE EXAM ROOM
Doctors and nurse practitioners speak with parents in the exam room about the importance of talking, singing, reading and playing with their children every day.
They offer age-appropriate tips and encouragement as well as a beautiful, brand-new, developmentally appropriate book to take home from birth to 5 years of age.
Books are available in 6 languages and children in the program start school with a library of at least 13 books in their homes and the wonderful memories they have created with their parents by sharing those books together.
WITH PARENT EDUCATORS
Reading is a Right
Encouraging healthy growth and early literacy for millions of children.
The Reach Out and Read Program has been in New York for over 30 years.
Bellevue has been a strong supporter of the program since its early days. Unique features that distinguish Bellevue’s the Reach Out and Read program include: starting the program in the prenatal stage, whereas the rest of the program nation-wide starts at 6 months; facilitating the distribution of book at all pediatric clinics at Bellevue and assisting families with food insecurities with other hospital programs.
Claudia Aristy, the director of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read program and member of Reach Out and Read’s National Board of Directors explains that their integrated approach truly sets them apart.
“The investment in full-time staff positions dedicated to the program allows us to solicit book donations for older children, supply them to our pediatricians to get them in front of as many children as possible, and maintain a robust pool of volunteers,” she says. “Beyond that, we also have dedicated physical spaces, such as a Reading Corner in the pediatric unit, which ensures parents that this is a normal part of the pediatric experience.”
This hospital-wide approach extends into the Reach Out and Read program which serves children from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. The program scales for both the volume of patients and the language diversity of its families and offers books in multiple languages and dialects to their families. Reach Out and Read connects children and parents to a variety of resources that exist in the hospital as well as the community.
Ms. Aristy and her team understand that remaining flexible, being responsive to their patient population and centering the work within the larger community is part of how Reach Out and Read must play out in a global city like New York.
Trained volunteers transform clinic waiting rooms into literacy-rich areas where they engage children of all ages in reading activities and model for families the joys and techniques of reading aloud.
Our Parent Educators counsel parents in the waiting room by pointing out their child’s reaction to books being read, talking about the importance of language and early literacy, and giving advice about reading. These interactions set the stage for the doctor’s intervention.
We also have the rare opportunity to reach parents of infants to help them understand the importance of looking at books with their babies before they can talk. Through the different layers of programming, they conduct in-depth developmental interventions while also referring parents to needed services within the hospital and in their own communities.
Join us in championing early literacy, as together, we create a brighter future for generations to come. Your support matters, and your contribution can be the turning point in a child's life.