Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read
A philanthropic proposal prepared exclusively for Altabank

Hungry caterpillars,
curious monkeys,
and cats in hats—
working together
to build a healthier
generation of
Utah kids.
Who knew?
A program initiative supported by
The Primary Promise Campaign
Intermountain Foundation

Name a book you
remember from childhood
Goodnight Moon? The Hungry Caterpillar?
Curious George? Fox in Socks?
These beloved stories stay with us forever—
powerful memories from a pivotal, developmental
moment in our lives.
We never suspected that by traveling where
the wild things are, we were also laying the
foundations of our future health.
The connection between reading and health
might sound a little mysterious. You might
not imagine that encouraging reading would
be part of the mission of an organization like
Intermountain Healthcare.
Not, that is, until you understand the
powerful effects that reading has
on the mind—and heart—
of a young child.

How books bring health
How can it be that reading makes kids healthy?
By the age of six, 95 percent of a child’s brain
has developed. That’s no surprise, since fully 80
percent of it had developed three years earlier,
at age three.
During these early years, language-rich
interactions are essential to the growth of your
child’s communication skills, curiosity, memory,
patience, empathy, and literacy. The seeds of
benefits like enhanced cognitive functioning,
emotional intelligence and academic success
get planted long before children can read on
their own: simply hearing the rise and fall of a
parent’s voice makes language develop faster.
Reading would be worthwhile if it promoted
literacy alone. But an even deeper impact comes
from the act of reading together, as parents
and children snuggle up with a well-loved
book. These sessions inevitably involve cuddling
and bonding, experiences that help children
manage anxiety and build positive associations.
Numerous studies show that these nurturing
moments build resilience into a child’s health
and wellness and reduce the incidence of
behavioral problems.
It comes down to this: your kids need books,
but they need you even more. Together, the two
are an unbeatable combination.
Reading together is not just a simple,
enjoyable highlight of every day for both
child and parent—it’s also a powerful way
to promote interaction and strengthen your
child’s health. Stories transport children to
places and times they have never experienced,
enhancing their understanding of the world—
while also equipping them to succeed and
thrive in that world.
It’s a journey that can benefit every child and
every family.

Reach out…and read
Suddenly, it’s easier to see why your pediatrician
might “prescribe” reading for your child. And
that’s just what Intermountain’s clinicians do,
through our Reach Out and Read program.
At each routine well-child visit through age five,
pediatricians give their young patients an ageappropriate
book. They also demonstrate for
parents how to read to their children, modeling
the importance of regular, nurturing reading
sessions together.
The program is led by Dr. Neal Davis, medical
director of Pediatrics. He explains, “Kids thrive
on routine. If we can jump-start their habit of
reading, the benefits will be lifelong. This might
not sound like healthcare, but it’s just one of
the many ways that Intermountain is getting
upstream to influence health and
solve problems before they start, to
engage people in their own health and wellbeing.
To us, ‘health’ is a little word with
a much bigger meaning.”
Dr. Davis’s books certainly did the trick for
brothers La’Mont and Carter, according to their
mom, Ebony Jiminez. “Before, La’Mont wouldn’t
necessarily care to pick up a book at home. Now
we have a bookshelf full of them. He’s boosted
his reading skill levels and passed his end-of-year
reading test with flying colors, compared to the
beginning of the year when he was reading at
kindergarten level. Now it’s him and Carter every
night, with two different books of their own. I’m
a proud and lucky mom.”

“Kids thrive on routine. If we can jump-start their
habit of reading, the benefits will be lifelong…it’s
just one of the many ways that Intermountain is
getting upstream to influence health and solve
problems before they start…”
—Dr. Neal Davis, Medical Director of Pediatrics

Our request…
and your opportunity
The giving spirit is an important part of Reach
Out and Read’s amazing success. Children receive
books as gifts, and we receive contributions so
we can make those gifts.
Because it does not qualify for
reimbursement as a clinical service, the
program relies entirely on philanthropic support
from Intermountain’s pediatricians, caregivers,
and community supporters.
The program is now offered at all
Intermountain Pediatric Clinics and many
Intermountain Family Medicine Clinics—
more than three dozen sites in all. An annual
expenditure of more than $150,000 per year
is used exclusively to purchase new books.
Today’s goal is to expand Reach Out and Read
to every single Intermountain pediatric patient
age 6 months to 5 years—about 75,000
children per year.
That’s why we respectfully request that
Altabank consider a major gift of $500,000 in
support of the Reach Out and Read program.
This generosity would make Altabank an esteemed
program sponsor and potentially involve your
employees in this inspiring effort. It would also earn
Altabank recognition as a key participant in
The Primary Promise Campaign, a sweeping,
multiyear fundraising campaign now being led by the
Intermountain Foundation to help build the nation’s
model health system for children.
It’s moving to realize that something so simple—
giving books to young children and encouraging
parents to cuddle up and read with them—can so
profoundly change the course of their lives.
Reach Out and Read will help 75,000 Utah kids
every year live their healthiest lives possible, building
family ties along the way. We hope that Altabank will
respond favorably to this exceptional opportunity.