Sonic Flood guitarist Todd Shay shares some playing time with patient Christopher Kyles, 2, in the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital playroom. (photo by Dana Johnson)
VCH “all-star” reading program celebrates one year anniversary
Rick Heil of Sonic Flood read “The Rainbow Fish” to patients in the playroom as other members of the group accompanied him with some calypso music. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Heil poses for a picture with patient Nathan DeWitt, 9, in the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital playroom. Sonic Flood read to the children and shared some of their music before visiting other patients in their rooms. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Amidst soft strains of guitar music, Rick Heil, lead singer of the contemporary Christian group Sonic Flood, read “The Rainbow Fish” to children at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
The reading marked the one-year anniversary of Jo’s Reach Out and Read Club, established by Dr. Rebecca Swan, assistant professor of Pediatrics, and her husband, Dr. Michael Swan, a local obstetrician-gynecologist. The monetary gift for the program was made in memory of their 14-month-old daughter, Johanna, who died in 1999.
“This was just great,” said Rebecca Swan. “To have the group come in and share their music and read to the children means so much.”
In addition to public readings, the program provides books for children between six months and five years of age. There are 15 different titles of books in various languages. The books are given to children based on age and culture. Over 3,000 books have been given out since the program began.
“Our daughter loved books and loved to be read to,” she said. “All kids love books and we could not think of a better way to remember her and help promote reading.”
In addition to the readings for patients in the Children’s Hospital, readings have been taking place twice a day in the outpatient clinics. Volunteers read to children in the clinic waiting room during busy hours.
The program is a version of the national Reach Out and Read program, which makes early literacy part of pediatric primary care. The idea is to broaden the concept of pediatric well baby care to encompass literacy intervention at the earliest stages of a child’s development. The national program hopes to reach low-income families where books and reading are not ordinarily part of a child’s environment.
The Vanderbilt version of the program includes visits by “all-stars” to encourage reading. Christian music star Michael W. Smith was the first music artist to kick off the program. Future stars include Christian singers Jonathan Pierce in April and Tammy Trent in May.