REACH OUT AND READ WITH SAN YSIDRO HEALTH
Helping children grow up healthy with a prescription to READ!
San Ysidro Health (SYHealth) is proud to offer children a book with every well child visit as part of its partnership with Reach Out and Read. As a national pediatric early literacy program, Reach Out and Read prepares America’s youngest to succeed in school by partnering with healthcare providers to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Research shows that children who grow up with books and who are read to during the first years of life are more likely to love reading and start school ready to learn.
San Ysidro Health’s pediatricians and healthcare providers are trained to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud and to give new books to children at pediatric well child visits (check-ups) from 6 months through 5 years of age, with a special focus on children growing up in medically underserved and under resourced areas. The children’s books San Ysidro Health provides are free, age-appropriate, and bilingual and are carefully selected by providers. The family is given a book to take home at each visit, with the book serving as a clinical tool to encourage early literacy development and provide parents with a practical resource for spending quality time and engaging in conversation with their child.
Books Are Needed Throughout San Diego
The interest and need for this program and books have increased significantly due to San Ysidro Health’s recent expansion into the East County and rural Mountain Empire area, as well as growth of their pediatric clinic sites in Chula Vista and San Ysidro. San Ysidro Health currently has eight clinic sites enrolled in Reach Out and Read and another six clinic sites are requesting enrollment.
SYHealth’s goal over the next two years is to provide books for 9,000+ pediatric well child appointments, at a total of 14 clinics throughout San Diego County and train all SYHealth and ensure 100% of medical providers seeing pediatric patients, who have agreed to become Physician Champions, have completed Reach Out and Read training.
WAYS TO HELP
San Ysidro Health is a happy to share that The Parker Foundation has awarded a generous matching grant award to sustain and expand the Reach Out and Read program contingent on the ability of the organization to raise the additional funds needed.
Please consider supporting San Ysidro Health’s Reach Out and Read program by making a contribution by October 31, 2021. Every dollar counts and will be matched by the Parker Foundation’s generosity up to $22,000. To learn more or to support, visit https://give.syhealth.org/reachoutandread
Special Thank You to Reach Out and Read Supporters
• The Parker Foundation
• Healthy Americas Foundation’s Nuestros Niños program, a partnership with Sesame Street in Communities
