From: 4joyces at mchsi.com <4joyces>
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 15:46:55 +0000

I volunteer part time at a hospital where a community has been built through books. Children's Hospital of Minneapolis has devoted a large room and a good chunk of funding (although we get lots of private grants, as well) to its Malkerson Library, which houses books, videotapes, audiotapes, and computers for kids, aged newborn to age 18. We regularly check out 1,000 books per month.

The librarian, Kathi Rokke, is an extremely dynamic person who also runs an interactive TV show for hospitalized patients, and she makes the library a true haven. I've seen grownups who were hospitalized years ago come and visit her!

What draws the children most, though, are the books. We, the volunteers, have the wonderful job of wheeling a big red bookwagon (we call it our Sport Utility Wagon) around the wards, offering books to each patient. Imagine: they are sick. They feel terrible, and they are afraid. They are in a place that is new and different and full of weird machines. And then they see their favorite book, that they have at home! They see Clifford the Big Red Dog, Harry Potter, Olivia! It is fabulous to see their eyes light up. We even bring books to the neonatal ward, where parents read to the tiniest of babies. Also, there are lots of books available that address certain medical conditions and explain to children what's going on in their bodies.

Books, and the characters in them, create a safe place for these children. Books help them regain sense of normalcy, help them forget the scary things that are going on around them, give them and their parents something to do together. Books help them heal!
Received on Tue 21 Oct 2003 10:46:55 AM CDT