Governor visits Redmond clinic’s reading program

Gov. John Kitzhaber paid a visit to St. Charles Family Care in Redmond Tuesday to learn more about the clinic’s participation in the national Reach Out and Read program, one of four stops he was making on a swing through the High Desert.

Last June, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement declaring literacy promotion — from an infant’s very first days — to be an “essential” component of pediatric primary care.

Through the Reach Out and Read program, which St. Charles Family Care in Redmond started in January 2012, each child between the ages of 6 months and 5 years who visits for a well-child check-up receives a free book.

Watching a child hold a book, turn the pages and explore the words and photos is a great way to gain insight into his or her development, said Dr. Peggy Philp, a pediatrician at the clinic.

That interaction between patient and book is just one of the reasons Philp wanted her clinic to join the national Reach Out and Read program.

Reach Out and Read was developed in 1989 by two pediatricians in the Boston area who felt that physicians could promote literacy by partnering with parents and essentially prescribing families to read.

Each year, medical providers at the nearly 5,000 Reach Out and Read program sites nationwide distribute 6.5 million books to children and invaluable literacy advice to parents.

“Studies have shown that families involved in the Reach Out and Read program are 10 times more likely to read to their children at least three times a week,” Philp said. “Preschoolers in the Reach Out and Read program are six months ahead of non-Reach Out and Read kids.”

Kitzhaber’s visit highlights literacy as a priority for his administration. Students who are not reading at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to drop out before finishing their education.

Children readingat or above grade levelby third grade are generally more successful in grade school, less likely to drop out of high school, and earn more as adults, even after adjusting for differences in family background.

“It’s a win-win,” Philp said. “Reading is good for young kids and people get rewarded for coming to the doctor. They are more motivated to get their preventive care, which decreases the likelihood they will end up in the emergency room.”

In announcing the Central Oregon trip, Kitzhaber’s office said the governor, sworn in last week for an historic fourth term, was visiting to “focus on communities who continue to be in the greatest need, even in the midst of an economic recovery, and those who are helping Oregonians reach their fullest potential.”

The day’s events began with a tour of Onboard Dynamics at COCC’s Automotive Technology Center in Bend, visiting a start-up making it easier and cost effective to fuel natural gas vehicles. The governor was there to highlight the state’s efforts to foster new businesses that create high-wage jobs.

The Redmond clinic’s visit was to “focus on the state’s efforts to bring multiple stakeholders together to improve childhood success from cradle to career.”

He planned a Tuesday afternoon visit to Eastlake Village I in northeast Bend, to “meet people facing a critical need in Central Oregon: affordable housing.”

Kitzhaber’s office said the governor on his last stop would “share what he experienced and learned throughout the day in a discussion on equity and opportunity in Oregon at OSU-Cascades.”

NewsChannel 21’s Katie Higgins also talked with the governor during his visit and will have a report tonight at 5 and 11 on NBC and 10 on Fox; the 6 p.m. NewsChannel 21 is pre-empted by the president’s State of the Union address.