When the school year ends, children in high-poverty environments struggle, not only with basic needs like healthy food and safe places to spend their days, but also with losing precious time during the summer months to continue their learning. Children often experience summer learning loss, or “summer slide,” because they may not have age- appropriate books at home and access to out-of-school learning programs.
On Thursday, June 21, Nebraska Medicine partnered with United Way of the Midlands (UWM) for the third annual Day of Action to reinforce the importance of summer reading with 500 children in the Omaha-Council Send Bluffs metro area.
Day of Action is a volunteer service day focused on childhood literacy. Volunteer teams and individuals act as “reading buddies” for children at six of UWM’s partner agencies, including Nebraska Medicine. Forty-two Nebraska Medicine volunteers read books to children from the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands. The children represented three sites, including the North Omaha Club, South Omaha Club and Westside Club.
Nebraska Medicine pediatric patients also joined in the fun. Most of the patients are receiving treatment for cancer, organ transplants and intestinal rehabilitation. Nebraska Medicine CEO Dan DeBehnke, MD, MBA, and United Way of the Midlands CEO Shawna Forsberg, gathered on the Pediatrics Unit to read books with the patients.
“Many of our patients spend weeks, months – even years – in the hospital, recovering from serious illnesses,” says Lisa Gulseth, a Nebraska Medicine hospital teacher. “School is such a regular and important part of the kids’ lives – even in the summer months. We’re always looking for ways to promote reading and stimulate their minds. This activity with United Way of the Midlands gives our patients the chance to interact with other children, while enjoying a new experience.”
In the 2016-17 academic year, more than 5,500 third grade students in the metro area were not reading at grade level. If a child does not read at grade level by the end of third grade, he or she is four times more likely to drop out of high school and six times more likely if the child lives in poverty for a year. Through Day of Action, UWM is bringing awareness to the issue of summer learning loss and kick-starting a summer of reading to help students stay on track for next year’s school learning.
