It was so wonderful to be back on the inpatient side of CHOC Children’s Hospital today with our Bedside Reading program and our mobile book cart (after being on hold since March 2020)! It is still so quiet there with still no events and limited volunteers, which were always an integral part of patient daily life at CHOC. So we felt wanted and very much needed! And how it warms my heart to learn from one of our expert bedside readers that, per patient request, she read aloud with a 16 year old for 35 minutes (Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories)! It can be tough to get a teen to agree to reading aloud, but when they y do, they often find that it’s enjoyable and a great break from they screen. Also, for the first time we were able to offer our “Tips for Caregivers” pamphlet with information about how they can help their kids to read, think, and thrive while at the hospital and going through treatment. They seemed to appreciate this resource, and we hope it will result in increased reading parents and caregivers in kids’ hospital rooms!
