To the ROR Community--,
Ever since Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area, many of you have called or emailed to ask how you can help Reach Out and Read to help those most affected by the hurricane’s fury. Of course we want to do whatever we can to alleviate the suffering of the many thousands of people displaced by the storm, and we urge everyone to contribute to the agencies collecting funds for emergency efforts to bring them shelter, clean water, food, and basic medical care. And once ongoing medical care is available for these families, I think we all want it to include books.
Therefore, given who we are and whom we serve, just as soon as the situation stabilizes – when babies and young children and their families have the water, formula, diapers, antibiotics, safe places to sleep and other things they most need, then ROR wants to be ready to do what we do best – provide the books and training needed to allow medical providers to give books as part of pediatric care.
As you may know, providers from the University of Texas Medical Center, where Susan Cooley and the ROR-Texas coalition are housed, are working hard to establish a medical care network in the Astrodome, in area churches -- wherever possible – first to conduct emergency triage and then to address the more routine medical needs of the hurricane evacuees. We have been in contact with Susan and her ROR team and have worked out the following plan to help meet their needs and the needs of others serving the Hurricane refugees in other areas of the country:
1. As soon as the immediate emergency has ended and on-going care is being provided, ROR would like to have a ready supply of books available for pediatric providers to give to these young patients; if necessary, we will arrange abbreviated, onsite training to prepare the providers to deliver the books and the ROR message to their young patients wherever they are now receiving medical care.
2. If you work in an area that will be serving Hurricane refugees, please be assured that Reach Out and Read will cover the cost of additional books to serve these children. Please keep good records and let us know in a timely manner about these unexpected costs to your program.
3. The National Center is establishing a Disaster Relief Book Account to cover the costs of books for these children. While the National Center will provide initial funding for this Account, we know that many of you are looking for ways to help these ROR sites and the children they serve. If you would like to contribute to the Disaster Relief Book Account, we know the affected areas would be grateful—and we will all be grateful to have more book money to offer them. We will have details for you next week about exactly how to do this.
4. When the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina are re-built and primary medical care is restored to these areas, ROR will replace all books destroyed in the storm and assist all of our sites in getting back on their feet to once again deliver our program to their young patients. Again, we will plan to draw on the Disaster Relief Book Account, so your contributions will help rebuild ROR programs when the time comes.
We have been overwhelmed by the offers of help coming in to the National Center. Even in this terrible time, we have to keep believing in the resilience of children and families, the hope and potential that lives in every child, and the joy that books can bring. Thank you for your generosity, your ongoing support of the Reach Out and Read mission of early childhood literacy, and for your commitment to the well-being of all children!
Perri Klass, MD
President and Medical Director
Reach Out and Read National Center
I'm glad to see they're working so diligently to help get books into the hands of children and to help restore what was lost. Most ROR sites are within primary paediatric practices, but ours is set up within a hospital. If any of you are medical librarians and don't participate in ROR, it's really quite rewarding and involves very little time to implement and maintain. Feel free to contact me for more info or check out the National ROR Website.
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