When Lisa Reed, RN, became the manager of the Population Health Department at WCGH, she knew literacy was one of the areas she wanted to focus on. As a nurse, she had seen too many patients who had difficulty reading their discharge instructions and medication bottles.
In an effort to increase literacy in the Midcoast, Lisa and several members of the population health department have recently begun visiting local Head Start programs. They read to the children and then give each of them a book of their own to take home, purchased by Belfast Public Health Nursing.
“I think if we start a love of reading early, we improve a child’s chances for academic growth and achievements as they move throughout life,” Lisa said.
Reading to the children were Judy Mendelson, Stacey Hall, Amanda Richards, Valerie Curtis and Ashley Hoffman.