UNMC helps provide free books to underserved children

John Walburn, M.D., UNMC professor of pediatrics and longtime supporter of the Reach Out and Read program, helps hand out free books to children.

Ill children normally fill a waiting area in a pediatric clinic, but recently about 25 healthy preschoolers filled the waiting area to promote reading.

Officials from Reach Out and Read, the Literacy Center for the Midlands, students and staff from the Omaha Primrose School of Legacy, as well as employees of UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center, were on hand to celebrate a donation of $100,000 to the national Reach Out and Read program. Primrose School Franchising Company, the country’s leader in early childhood education, made the donation. It operates schools in 13 states and has more than 150 locations.

Reach Out and Read is a national, non-profit program that is working to make literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care. The program trains medical providers to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud, as well as provide books to children at check-ups from 6 months to 5 years, with a special emphasis on children growing up in poverty.

UNMC receives more than 15,000 books a year through the program. Nationwide the program reaches more than 2.1 million children from low-income families, between the ages of 6 months and 5-years-old.

Preschoolers from the Omaha Primrose School of Legacy, along with about 18,000 students from 150 Primrose Schools nationwide, helped raise the funds through the school’s character development program that teaches students to care for others.

Omaha pediatrician Laura Jana, M.D., franchisee owner of the Omaha Primrose School of Legacy, and one of the founders of Reach Out and Read, said the donation reflects Primrose’s goal of promoting early literacy skills among young children. “Reading provides one of the best indicators of a child’s future academic success in elementary and high school,” she said. “Every child should be read to regularly and should be encouraged to use books as a resource and for entertainment.”

During the event, free books were distributed to children in the waiting room.

John Walburn, M.D., UNMC professor of pediatrics, has been a longtime supporter of the Reach Out and Read program. “It’s a very exciting thing,” he said. “To provide a stimulating environment is so important at this age. This donation will help provide books for 30,000 kids nationwide. For low-income families, expenses are an issue. A lot of underserved families may not understand the importance of reading to their children during the first two years of life. We need to get parents to turn off the TV and videos and read.”