A program that gives books to the parents of newborns at Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center in Fort Madison might expand to the hospital’s location in West Burlington.
Diane Berner, who helped create the local Books for Babies program, said hospital staff in Fort Madison is quite pleased with it.
“We were just happy that they think it's so successful that they want to expand,” said Berner, who is the coordinator for the Talented and Gifted Program at the Keokuk Community School District.
“The nurses have just been wonderful. They're the ones that really get the materials to the families. They will sometimes put the baby’s footprint inside the book to make it like a keepsake.”
Berner said she has spoken with members of the Burlington Education Association about bringing the program to Des Moines County. She said they have applied for a grant to help make it happen.
Books for Babies has been in place in Lee County for six years and has bought hundreds of books for local children.
“I had heard about this happening in other places and decided I was going to figure out a way to make it happen here,” Berner said.
“Our Iowa State Education Association has community outreach grants, and I felt like this was a perfect fit for us, and so I applied that first year and it was approved.”
In writing the application for the first grant, Berner cited a study from the University of Nevada, Reno, which found that having as few as 20 books in the home has a significant impact on helping children to attain a higher level of education.
The Keokuk Education Association has now received a $500 outreach grant from the organization to fund its program each year.
Berner is looking forward to continuing and expanding Books for Babies.
“We've heard stories of where siblings come to meet their baby and they find the book and the family gets to read a book right there at the hospital with the newborn,” she said.
“We really just want to encourage family reading, from the very beginning, and it will help us have kids come in more prepared, we hope. We really just want everybody to love reading.”
Currently, Keokuk does not have a hospital, and Blessing Health did not provide obstetrics services before it closed the city’s hospital in October 2021.
Flint, Mich.-based healthcare company Insight is planning to reopen the hospital but has not announced plans to provide obstetrics there.
Berner said many Keokuk residents go to the Fort Madison hospital for such services, though some also travel to West Burlington or to Quincy, Ill.
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