Advocacy, Pediatrics

Legacy’s Little Readers Receives Hefty Donation from Ford

08
Dec

Ford Motor Company donated 1,500 children’s books to Legacy’s childhood literacy program.

By Barrett White

 

Ford Motor Company committed to helping Legacy drive health change on Monday, December 7. The auto industry giant stopped by three Legacy locations over the course of the day to drop off their hefty donations totaling 1,500 books for Legacy’s childhood literacy program.

The donations were dropped off by Ford at Legacy Fifth Ward and Legacy Montrose in the late morning. In the early afternoon, Ford arrived at Legacy Southwest, where the busiest service line is pediatrics. In the month of November 2020 alone, an average of 109 pediatric patients were seen at Legacy Southwest per day!

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the connection between literacy and child development is an essential part of health care. Reading and talking with young children from birth builds new connections in the brain, stimulating early language learning and motivation to learn. According to the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation, poverty is a root cause of low literacy in Houston. The Foundation says that about 60% of children in the Greater Houston Area lack requisite reading skills upon entering kindergarten.

Acting on that research, Legacy’s “Little Readers” initiative, in partnership with H-E-B, Children Learning Institute and Reach Out & Read, and Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, writes prescriptions to the clinic’s low-income pediatric patients newborns to 12 years old. When kids come in for a well-child visit, they receive a book at no cost along with a prescription to read. The initiative so far has provided families with more than 149,000 books and prescription to read.

“Legacy thanks Ford Motor Company for their generosity,” says Chree Boydstun, Chief Development Officer at Legacy. “Legacy understands that the health of the community outside the exam room is just as important as your health inside the exam room. Literacy is essential for the growth and health of an individual and Ford Motor Company’s donation is an excellent example of the community stepping up to address it.”