East Harlem pediatric clinic combats falling literacy levels with free books for families
NEW YORK — Last week, the new Nation's Report Card showed kids still are not bouncing back academically from the COVID-19 pandemic, with reading scores falling even lower than they were two years ago.
In East Harlem, the Settlement Health pediatric clinic is encouraging families to launch their literacy journey early.
Pediatric patients get free books with every visit
Jenny Hilario said her almost 2-year-old daughter Shirley's love for books has given her tools to show tremendous growth, even compared to her 4-year-old brother. They read aloud together in the waiting room of the clinic, with Shirley responding clearly in English and Spanish.
Hilario thanks God her son is now learning both languages from his younger sister, both born into a post-pandemic world. She also thanks Settlement Health, for putting free books in her baby's hands every time she visits her pediatrician Dr. Genna Ableman, who is the clinic's director of population health.
"Her brother really, really struggled with speech and wasn't really saying much, and I'm sure that that was a concern," Ableman said of Shirley. "Developmentally by 2, you should have two words together. Even earlier today, she was talking to you in full sentences with like three and four words."
Reading is incorporated into every aspect of health in the clinic, helping to reverse lower levels of literacy since the pandemic. Last year, fourth graders nationwide tested two points lower on average than they did two years before.
Ableman said, with the increase in home-schooling, some students are not entering a classroom environment until the first grade.
"You're supposed to be like on the run, learning how to read, learning how to write," Ableman said, "and we're still learning how to sit in the seat."
United Hospital Fund partners with clinics to provide libraries of options
The nonprofit United Hospital Fund started partnering with pediatric clinics like Settlement Health three years ago to provide libraries of options for children of all ages. The program also empowers parents to improve their own literacy.
"Some don't know how to read, they don't know the language," Ableman said of the parents she sees, "but to be able to show them that they can still engage with their kids with books and still help them with learning is really, really amazing to see."
The precocious Shirley proves what is possible, powering past expectations and accelerating her education forward toward academic achievement.
United Hospital Fund's "Pediatric Steps to Literacy" project goes beyond providing the books for the clinics. The nonprofit is also behind the waiting room design and signs, to create a welcoming environment throughout the office.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
RFK Jr scraps vaccine committee members in effort to restore 'public trust'
The Department of Health and Human Services dismissed all the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Monday. The committee's job was to decide and "make recommendations" related to the necessity and use of vaccines, according to an HHS news release. All the current members of the committee were brought in under the Biden administration, and 13 of them were put on the committee last year. HHS said it would take until 2028 for most of the members to be replaced if they served their full term. Rfk Jr's Hhs To End Routine Covid Vaccine Guidance For Children, Pregnant Women: Report Public debate about vaccines, especially whether government or workplaces should mandate them, escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of the criticism and skepticism fell on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which ACIP advises. "Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda," Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said in a statement on Monday. "The public must know that unbiased science—evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest—guides the recommendations of our health agencies." Read On The Fox News App The HHS release noted that the next meeting for the committee will be June 25-27 in Atlanta, and the committee will have new people that are "currently under consideration." Cdc Eyes Narrower Covid-19 Vaccine Guidance Ahead Of 2025-2026 Season "A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science," Kennedy continued. "ACIP's new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas. The entire world once looked to American health regulators for guidance, inspiration, scientific impartiality, and unimpeachable integrity. Public trust has eroded. Only through radical transparency and gold standard science, will we earn it back." HHS cited an executive order from President Donald Trump saying that changes were needed in how the federal government plays a role in science and health. "Unfortunately, the Federal Government has contributed to this loss of trust. In several notable cases, executive departments and agencies (agencies) have used or promoted scientific information in a highly misleading manner," the order stated. Millions Spent By Biden On Covid 'Vaccine Hesitancy' Campaign Slashed By Trump Nih: Report "For example, under the prior Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued COVID-19 guidance on reopening schools that incorporated edits by the American Federation of Teachers and was understood to discourage in-person learning," the order, signed on May 23, continued. "This guidance's restrictive and burdensome reopening conditions led many schools to remain at least partially closed, resulting in substantial negative effects on educational outcomes — even though the best available scientific evidence showed that children were unlikely to transmit or suffer serious illness or death from the virus, and that opening schools with reasonable mitigation measures would have only minor effects on transmission," it added. Kennedy was confirmed by the Senate to lead the department in February after Trump nominated article source: RFK Jr scraps vaccine committee members in effort to restore 'public trust'
Los Angeles Times
3 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee
WASHINGTON — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday removed every member of a scientific committee that advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines and pledged to replace them with his own picks. The 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had been in a state of flux since Kennedy took over. Its first meeting this year had been delayed when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abruptly postponed its February meeting. Kennedy, who was one of the nation's leading anti-vaccine activists before becoming the nation's top health official, recently took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the panel. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Kennedy said the committee members had too many conflicts of interest. Committee members routinely disclose any possible conflicts at the start of public meetings.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
COVID Crusader Writes Open Letter To RFK Jr On mRNA
A prominent group of health activists is threatening a political revolt against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over what they call a betrayal of their movement's central cause. In a blistering open letter dated June 4, COVID crusader Dr. Mary Talley Bowden and several allies from the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement — a grassroots coalition of vaccine-critical and medical freedom activists — accused Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary of watering down policies related to the controversial mRNA vaccine platform, especially in guidance affecting children and pregnant women. 'We did not fight for you to be in positions of leadership so that our clearly stated policy goals would suffer a 'bait and switch,'' Bowden wrote, warning Kennedy that MAHA voters 'can walk away' if their demands are not met. The letter criticizes recent CDC and FDA policy changes, calling them deceptive and insufficient, and claims the administration is engaging in 'linguistic misdirections' to hide the continued recommendation of mRNA shots for vulnerable populations. The MAHA letter insists the mRNA platform — particularly COVID vaccines — should be pulled from the market entirely, citing adverse event data and peer-reviewed studies. It demands sweeping reforms: a full ban on mRNA technologies, repeal of the PREP Act, elimination of vaccine-related conflicts of interest in federal agencies, and an end to direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. The signatories include author Naomi Wolf, podcaster Shannon Joy, and several other activists who rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic by challenging government vaccine narratives. The backlash comes amid growing scrutiny of RFK Jr.'s recent actions as HHS secretary. Once one the nation's most vocal mRNA vaccine skeptic, Kennedy has walked a careful line in office, telling Congress in May that his personal views on vaccines are 'irrelevant' and vowing not to make sudden changes to CDC policy. 'I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me,' Kennedy told lawmakers, as reported by The Hill on June 2. Still, his critics on both sides see Kennedy's recent moves as consequential. Late last month, he released a 58-second video on X stating that COVID vaccines for healthy children and healthy pregnant women had been removed from the CDC's immunization schedule — a declaration Bowden and others say was misleading. Indeed, as The Hill previously reported, the CDC quietly changed its guidance to say healthy children may receive the COVID vaccine after consultation with a healthcare provider, while maintaining stronger recommendations for other vulnerable categories. For pregnant women, the recommendation was similarly softened but not eliminated, and pregnancy remains classified by the FDA as a high-risk health condition, allowing continued vaccine use under certain circumstances. Bowden's letter zeroes in on this ambiguity, arguing that wordplay is being used to sustain vaccine availability under the appearance of reform. 'Pregnant women have not been made any safer by your wordplay,' she writes, warning that MAHA activists are prepared to run their own candidates in upcoming elections if their demands are ignored. The political threat underscores the friction between Kennedy and the movement that once celebrated his nomination. While Kennedy has taken steps to reshape HHS in ways consistent with his skepticism — including canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine— his first few months of actions have not thus far rendered the swift action that some would have hoped. Former CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser and other public health experts have voiced alarm at Kennedy's willingness to circumvent the CDC's vaccine advisory panel, which has traditionally guided immunization policy through public, evidence-based deliberation. 'We're seeing a total side-stepping of the nation's leading public health agency,' Besser told The Hill. The vaccine panel has not yet weighed in on the updated COVID shot guidance. Its next meeting is scheduled for late June, and observers expect tense debate over whether Kennedy's changes represent science-based reform or political overreach. In the meantime, Bowden's warning reflects the fragile coalition Kennedy is attempting to hold together. The MAHA movement — built in part from disaffected MAGA voters, vaccine skeptics, and parents concerned about government overreach — played a pivotal role in rallying support for Kennedy's confirmation and the broader medical freedom agenda. Now, its leaders are openly questioning whether Kennedy's tenure will deliver the systemic change they demand — or whether they were simply used to fuel a political ascent. 'MAHA is not the possession of Secretary Kennedy,' Bowden wrote. 'It is the voice of millions of desperate parents… and their activism will outlast any administration.' The Dallas Express reached out to HHS but did not immediately receive a response. Kennedy previously spoke to The Dallas Express about a lawsuit Bowden brought against the FDA for misleading the public about using ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 during his presidential campaign in 2024 and just after the FDA settled the case. 'All three of the principal health agencies [CDC, NIH, FDA] suffer from agency capture,' Kennedy said. 'I would say 50% of the FDA's budget is from pharmaceutical companies. NIH scientists are allowed to collect royalties on drugs that they regulate –– which is clearly a conflict of interest. CDC … has devolved into an agency that primarily promotes the mercantile interests of the pharmaceutical companies.' He told DX that the agencies are overly influenced by perverse incentives from the pharmaceutical industry and added, 'I will change those incentives and unravel the culture of corruption that now has turned these agencies against public health.'
