Big Sky Stories – the charity on a mission to put books into the hands of children to help create a foundation for learning throughout life – has received a significant boost after teaming up with the Far West Local Health District (FWLHD) Allied Health department.
Founded by Jane Vaughan and Nicky Wright, Big Sky Stories provides children, young people, and families a place to meet and share the wonder of books, the joys of storytelling, and many other creative arts activities.
Big Sky Stories’ ‘Pay It Forward’ initiative sees customers buy a book for children who otherwise might not have the means to buy one. This is where the Allied Health and Integrated Community Services team at Broken Hill Health Service comes in. Allied health clinicians, including
Speech Pathologists and Occupational Therapists, work with children and their families to provide therapy toward meeting their developmental goals, and those books that have been paid forward will help immensely.
“Allied Health clinicians will be able to highlight families that will benefit from this great resource, as well as knowing that the books will also in turn support the children with some of their therapy goals,” says Tracy Herlihy, Manager of Dietetics and Speech Pathology at Far West LHD.
“Working in partnerships enables us to better improve the health and wellbeing of our far west community,” she said.
Whenever possible, clinicians will let the child to choose their own book.
This month, Ms Wright, along with Senior Paediatric Occupational Therapist Charmaine Lowrie, started paying forward the books to attendees of School Readiness groups held at the Health Service. Children were encouraged to choose their own books from the range donated.
“We understand how important it is for children and young people to own their own books and choose what they’d like to read at a given point in time. The Kids and Family Reading Report found that most kids, some 89 per cent, agree their favourite books are the ones that they have picked out themselves,” Ms Wright said.
