South Georgia Medical Center is hosting a new program aimed at bringing literacy and community resource awareness to new parents.

Named Talk with Me Baby, this state initiative is funded through the Georgia Department of Public Health, to better equip parents to help their children develop optimally during the crucial early years of life.  Talk with Me Baby is made possible by a grant from the United Way of Atlanta and is a collaborative effort among organizations (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, DPH, United Way, Marcus Autism Center, Get Georgia Reading and Atlanta Speech School).
 
Administered locally by the Georgia Home Visiting Program for Lowndes County, Program Director Berinda Nwakamma, MSW, said, “We visit new parents at SGMC on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Over the past 90 days, we have visited approximately 215 families and have referred 40 families to our First Steps program.”
 
According to Nwakamma, First Steps provides families with resources, such as a community resource guide and age-appropriate parenting information on child health, safety, school readiness and family economic self-sufficiency.”
 
In addition, the program instills the importance of hands-on early learning.
 
“We provide parents with a complimentary baby bib that reads, ‘Feed Me Words’,” Nwakamma said.  “We recommend reading early and often since there is a correlation between literacy and brain growth.  Using the Parents as Teachers curriculum, we educate patients that 85% of brain growth occurs in the first 3 years of life.”
 
Community resources, such as the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which is hosted locally by the Rotary Clubs in Valdosta, can provide reading materials for those on a budget.  When children are enrolled in the Imagination Library program, they receive a book a month from birth to age five.
 
“Our resources are for all socio-economic groups,” Nwakamma explained.  “Early learning has a direct correlation to a community’s economic growth and workforce development.”

SGMC’s Unit Director for Women & Children Cathy Swilley, RN, said, “This program offers important free resources for our patients and babies. It’s a great opportunity to bridge the word gap and promote literacy and other family-focused resources.”