A relatively new program is being met with success at the North Bay Regional Health Centre. It’s the Learn, Laugh Love and Read with Me program where family and caregivers read to newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The books are housed in the hospital’s lending library and just received 50 books from Books for Brook.
Books for Brook was established in memory of Brook Doseger, who graduated from Nipissing University’s Concurrent Bachelor of Education program in 2016. Tara-Lynn Scheffel, an associate professor in the Language and Literacy program at the school’s Schulich School of Education, says Books for Brook is a perfect for the school. “I’m sure Brook would be delighted to know that her legacy is helping babies and parents in the NICU,” said Scheffel. The reading program is designed to help promote bonding and development with newborns in the NICU.
The hospital understands that parents may feel alienated when their baby needs to be admitted to the NICU and they can’t provide the same parental care they normally would, There are instances of illnesses and treatments becoming barriers to a parent’s attempt to bond with their newborn, however providing that reading to the newborn gives that sense of normalcy. Books for Brook is always looking for books to add to the library. Anyone who can help can drop off books at the Schulich School of Education office in the Books for Brook box.
