S moke S ignals
july 1, 2014
Reach Out and Read program comes to Tribal clinic
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Dr. Allison Empey first encoun-
tered Reach Out and Read as a pe-
diatric resident at Oregon Health &
Science University’s Doernbecher
Children’s Hospital in Portland.
“I was first exposed to Reach Out
and Read when I started seeing my
patients in clinic,” Empey, a Tribal
member who served on Royalty
when she was younger, says. “I
wanted to bring it to the Grand
Ronde clinic because I have read
the evidence on how it works, but
I’ve also witnessed first-hand the
excitement for books and the new
interest in reading aloud with my
own patients and their families.”
Empey graduated from McMin-
nville High School as a National
Honor Society valedictorian, from
Stanford University and the Uni-
versity of California-San Francisco
School of Medicine. She is now a
member of the American Academy
of Pediatrics.
Reach Out and Read is a Boston-
based national reading program
that operates through health care
facilities.
When young patients come in
each year for well child exams,
physicians and nurses “prescribe”
a book for them to read with their
parents. They also describe the
importance and value of families
reading aloud together.
Empey secured $700 for 2014 and
the Tribal Health and Wellness
Clinic was ready to run with it.
“We have been wanting to give
kids books at their well child exams
instead of toys for a while,” says
Nurse Supervisor Terri Andries,
who, along with Diabetic Case Man-
ager Te’Ona Davidson, is running
the program in Grand Ronde.
“We really felt books would be bet-
ter for child development and learn-
ing. We didn’t have the funding for
books so when Allison approached
us about the program, we jumped
at the chance to be part of it.”
The nonprofit has run the pro-
gram since 1989. It now serves 4.2
million children through 50,000
programs across all 50 states.
Thousands of doctors and nurses
promote early literacy and school
readiness to young children and
their families. Each year, medical
providers distribute 6.5 million
books to children, and invaluable
literacy advice to parents, accord-
ing to the nonprofit’s website.
Empey, Andries and Davidson
organized the program training for
the clinic’s health care providers
during a lunch hour in May. Empey
led the training.
The training covered the benefits
of children reading books. One
benefit is helping improve child
brain development. Another is how
reading to children improves their
knowledge of language and how
that interplay improves the par-
ent-child bond.
Now that the program is up and
running, Empey says, “I will have a
limited role in the day-to-day logis-
tics. I will check in often and if I see
something that Reach Out and Read
at Doernbecher is doing that I think
would work at the Grand Ronde clinic,
I will be sure to bring that back.”
Davidson oversees the program.
She ticked off her responsibilities:
Making sure all current and new
employees complete the training,
keeping an inventory of books,
ordering books, completing annual
reports to qualify for the program,
and following up and making sure
funding is available each year.
Reach Out and Read’s connection
with Scholastic Book Club allows
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Jennifer Clark shows her daughter Arya a book that they received from
Susan Wright, a Tribal family nurse practitioner, during a well child exam at
the Grand Ronde Health & Wellness Center on Friday, June 13. The clinic has
started the Reach Out and Read program which gives families a book and a
“prescription” to read.
Davidson to order from its website
at a reduced price.
Davidson and Andries will each
promote the program. They staffed
a booth with information about it at
the Family Night Out event on June
19. They also are sending out mailers
and letters and posting promotional
posters and fliers at the clinic.
Each child who comes to the clinic
for a well child visit will receive one
age-appropriate book
“We will probably give out about
100 books a year,” says Andries.
“We hope it will increase child and
parent bonding, help combat illit-
eracy, prepare children for school,
and be an incentive for families to
bring their kids in for well care and
not just when they are sick.”
“I hope that this program will
help to increase the number of
books that patients have at home
and that their guardians take the
time to spend some time reading
with them every day,” Empey
says. “If this happened, I would
expect the school readiness of the
children who get their care at the
Grand Ronde Health and Wellness
Department to increase.
“As a health care provider for
children, part of my job is helping
to advocate for issues that affect
their health. So much of health is
determined outside of the clinic
walls. I’m really excited about this
program and the potential it has to
increase literacy, which ultimately
improves health.” n
Grand Ronde Community Garden opens
Far right, Grand
Ronde Community
Garden Coordinator
Patti LeClaire
receives a hug from
Tribal Nutrition
Program Manager
Kristy DeLoe, left,
and a blanket from
Tribal Council
member Denise
Harvey, right,
during the grand
opening of the garden on Friday, June 27. LeClaire thanked all
of the volunteers and Tribal staff who helped the garden and
called the project a “community effort.” She also thanked her
husband, Scott, who also received a blanket for volunteering.
Tribal Council members Reyn Leno, Kathleen Tom, Ed Pearsall and
Harvey attended the opening. The Community Garden has more
than 20 rows in which to grow produce, which will be distributed
throughout the community (food bank, Elders’ kitchen, pre-
school, Adult Foster Care, Social Services and a future farmer’s
market to fund the garden). DeLoe said the garden is the first
Photos by Dean Rhodes
step toward the community reaching food sustainability and sovereignty. During the ceremony, Harvey also thanked several
volunteers with beaded necklaces. Jordan Mercier, David Harrelson, Leslie Riggs, Reina Nelson, Flicka Lucero and Kalene Contreras provided
the cultural drumming and singing to open the ceremony and Tribal Head Start students sang. Above left, Head Start students, from left, Gabryl
Guzman and Joshua Beeks enjoyed examining a radish. DeLoe said the garden has already produced 30 pounds of produce for the community.