HMG Central Alabama Coordinator, Danna with Super Why

Exciting things are happening in Central Alabama! Through our great partnership with Reach Out and Read-Alabama, Help Me Grow care coordinators are building relationships with pediatricians and engaging families in their medical home to demonstrate the impact reading can have on the developing brain and connect families to additional resources when needed. Today Western Health Center of the Jefferson County Department of Health, is hosting a Prescription for Summer Reading event in collaboration with Reach Out and Read-Alabama and Alabama Public Television’s effort to promote summer reading in pediatric practices and clinics around the state. In addition, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and the Caring Foundation will be presenting the center with 1,800 books to be distributed to patients through the year. The event will highlight the importance of reading for preparing a child to enter school, and will showcase the services that all families at Western Health Center have access to during well-child visits. Well-child visits are more than just a time for vaccinations, but an opportunity to focus on all areas of a child’s development and ensure parents have the knowledge, resources, and tools to best support their child starting at birth. To accomplish this, Western Health Center will be collaborating with other organizations in the community to offer families the following services:

Reach Out and Read Statewide Coordinator, Polly with Super Why

1. Ages & Stages Developmental Screening
2. Developmentally appropriate books and instructions for parents about reading daily and brain development through Reach Out and Read-Alabama
3. Registration for all children in Dolly Parton Imagination Library to receive additional books through age five
4. Care coordination and referral for needed developmental services through Help Me Grow Central Alabama

School readiness begins at birth and primary care offices have a unique opportunity to engage families early. The services offered at Western Health Center are a great example of progress being made towards ensuring every child in Alabama enters school prepared to learn.