PHOENIX — St. Joseph’s Medical Center is launching a new reading program aimed at its tiniest patients.
The “Littlest Readers Library" makes donated books available to every family in the NyICU so they can read to their babies.
“Just the fact of even reading to him – I mean, we kind of have already started that from the very beginning,” said Angie Fedora, a mother of one of the babies being cared for in the NyICU. “As a teacher, I know how, developmentally, that is important for them.”
The program launched on March 2, Dr. Seuss’s birthday and National Read Across America Day. So the hospital unit was filled with babies dressed in Seussian onesies and hats on the program’s first day.
Doctors say reading to babies can help boost language development, sleep habits and overall health.
“In utero, babies begin to learn,” said Zoe Coleman, clinical manager at St. Joseph’s NyICU. “And when they come out, they’re still learning, and the parents really are their best teachers.”
The books are donated by graduates of the NyICU program as well as hospital staff.
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