Moments before the Smith County Medical Alliance began its Texas BookShare launch news conference in Tyler last Thursday, the door unexpectedly swung open. A small boy and his great-grandfather were startled by the crowd of people and cameras, who invited them in anyway.
The little St. Paul Children’s Services patient had just earned a free token during his doctor visit and was coming to get a shiny book out of the special new vending machine at the hospital.
Lisa Allen, DO, a family physician in Tyler, smiled as she saw her idea come to life.
Dr. Allen, a member of the Smith County Medical Alliance and president of the Smith County Medical Society, dreamed of bringing the Texas Medical Association Alliance’s Texas BookShare program to Tyler, with a twist.
In 2018, the TMA Alliance, using a grant from the TMA Foundation, launched Texas BookShare with the goal of promoting literacy and providing families in underserved areas with stories about how to live a healthy life.
Dr. Allen already loved the idea of giving children books at a physician’s office where underserved children seek care. As for the twist: She thought of outfitting a special vending machine, like some area schools have, to dispense the books. After discussions with her fellow Smith County alliance members and other local physicians, the idea took shape.
“The most important thing to me was that it should go into a doctor's office that serves an underserved population, because we know that some of the kids in this population may never get a new book in their home … and might never have a book in their home at all,” Dr. Allen said.
Valerie Smith, MD, a pediatrician at St. Paul Children’s and its chief programs and quality officer, knew her clinic’s campus was the perfect spot for the new vending machine.
“I was immediately thrilled,” said Dr. Smith. “Of our patient population, 85% to 90% of our patients are on Medicaid or [the Children’s Health Insurance Program], and about another 5% are uninsured. We know that literacy is important for all children, but we especially know that early literacy promotion is important for children who are growing up in poverty.”
Local alliance members raised the funds to buy the vending machine, and local company Moran Munchies reconfigured it to accept tokens to dispense the books. A Tyler optometrist also pledged to help replenish the local program’s future book supply.
The Tyler program formally kicked off June 30, but physicians and caregivers at St. Paul’s began testing it before then. They gave tokens to some of their young patients, who redeemed them for books that promote healthy living – both physical and emotional health – in English and Spanish.
The books allow physicians to put a novel spin on pediatric visits. Doctors and other health care professionals can give a book instead of candy as a reward when a child meets a medical goal or undergoes a potentially uncomfortable medical procedure, such as a finger stick, blood draw, vaccination, or an eye exam.
“How fun is it to be able to get a token and be able to come and choose your book [from a vending machine]?” Dr. Allen said.
Dr. Smith invited brother-sister patients of hers, 5-year-old Alex and 7-year-old Olivia, to demonstrate the machine and get new books of their own. Alex chose The Very Hungry Caterpillar, while Olivia picked Oh, the THINGS you can DO that are GOOD for You!
The children clutched their new treasures, thanking the dozen or so Smith alliance members present for the kickoff event. The little boy who came in with his great-grandfather – sporting a new bandage on his fingertip from his office visit – smiled “cheese!” for photos as he waved his new copy of his pick, The Berenstain Bears Come Clean for School.
The Texas BookShare program is now in eight Lone Star State counties and has given away more than 2,000 health-related books to children across the state.