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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, September 01, 2006
LAUREL, MD – Doctors at Laurel Lakes Primary Care are sending families home from check-ups with free books and a very important prescription – “read aloud to your children.” Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) visited the health center to follow doctors’ orders by reading to a group of young patients.
Laurel Lakes Primary Care participates in Reach Out and Read, a program that trains medical providers to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud and to give free books to children at check-ups from 6 months to 5 years. The books are new, carefully chosen, and developmentally appropriate - starting with board books for babies and moving on to more complex picture books for preschoolers. Through Reach Out and Read, each child starts kindergarten with a home library of up to 10 books and a parent who has heard at every health supervision visit about the importance of books and reading.
The program has gained broad bipartisan acclaim in Congress, including the active support of Hoyer, who has advocated for Reach Out and Read’s federal funding requests.
“Reading is the cornerstone of a good education and you can never start too young,” Hoyer said. “Reach Out and Read is helping our nation’s youth appreciate the importance of this crucial skill, while helping prepare the next generation for an increasingly competitive world.”
Laurel Lakes Primary Care is one of 3 sites in 5th Congressional District that participates in Reach Out and Read, providing books to more than 500 children annually. Across Maryland, 40 Reach Out and Read sites serve over 35,400 low-income infants, toddlers and preschoolers annually.
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