Just a quick update on week two of ECBC’s new inpatient bedside reading and mobile book cart program: Last week, we had a launching party in the playroom, where ECBC volunteers read aloud an interactive book about color mixing and guided patients to do some of their own color mixing in blank books and on blank puzzles. This week, we started our visits to patient rooms — where we asked patients if they were up for a read-aloud and possibly a related craft. Patients get visited by so many different people during the day, so often it can be difficult for an unknown volunteer to get a “yes” when asking to enter a patient’s room. We were SO thrilled that all but one patient/families said YES to a read-aloud! We read aloud with patients between the ages of 2 and 9, and volunteers’ reading resulted in patients putting down their ipads, getting engaged in a good story, making predictions and personal connections, and wanting more on a different day! One father of an oncology patient even said as an ECBC volunteer left the room: “Thank you so much, that was just what the doctor prescribed today”… which is actually a goal of ours, that someday “reading aloud” will be included in doctor recommendations as part of helping patients thrive during their hospital stays. #ECBC#Bedside Reading #ReadAloudEveryDay#HospitalizedKidsNeedBooksToo #ReadThinkThrive