Recently, Neighborhood Health Center’s Riverway location welcomed guests from the United Way of Buffalo & Western New York and Reach Out and Read to tour the newly opened facility.

The tour was scheduled to discuss how valuable the “Reach Out and Read” program has been, in serving Neighborhood Health Center patients and families!

“Reach Out and Read” is a national nonprofit that promotes daily reading and other activities for young children, championing the positive effects of reading at an early age on promoting healthy brain development, and language skills and creating stronger familial bonds.

“You see the interaction with parents, providers, and the children, and you model that behavior and it’s amazing to see that love factor between the parents and the kids,” says Dr. Vicki Ip, a pediatrician at Neighborhood Health Center. “They develop so much trust in you and every time they (the children) see you they’re like, ‘a book!’ and it’s been fantastic.”

Patricia Kirst, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Neighborhood’s Blasdell office, is the Reach Out and Read project coordinator at Neighborhood and the regional medical director for Reach Out and Read. She says when a provider gives a family a culturally relevant book, it creates a welcoming environment and it becomes an important conversation starter. “It’s participatory guidance versus what we used to call anticipatory which is a lot of ‘you should, you should’,” Kirst explains.

The “Reach Out and Read” program is part of the care offered at all Neighborhood Health Center locations that provide pediatric services.