Community Medical Centers - Children’s Health Center is pleased to introduce Kristene Scholefield, volunteer reader with the Reach Out and Read Program. On a weekly basis, Kristene can be found reading books with children as they wait for appointments at the Children’s Health Center. Scholefield, who recently retired from a career as an elementary school teacher, learned about Reach Out and Read (ROR) from her husband, Dr. John Scholefield, who participates with ROR as a medical provider.
Reach Out and Read Fresno County is funded through First 5 Fresno County and fiscally managed by UCSF Fresno. ROR is an evidence-based intervention that prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with medical providers to provide books and encourage families to read together. Medical providers give young children developmentally and culturally appropriate books at each of the 10 pediatric health maintenance visits from age 6 months to 5 years and advise parents and caregivers to read to their children daily, offering age-appropriate literacy guidance.
The Reach Out and Read program is greatly enhanced by Kristene Scholefield’s willingness to volunteer and share her gift of effective book sharing with children and their families at the Children’s Health Center. When asked what she enjoys most about volunteering, Kristene shared, “I absolutely love reading to the children with the puppets, interactive storybooks, and big books, but my favorite thing is to watch the engagement that occurs when the children get excited about the story and to observe the parents watching this interaction between child and book.”
