NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue Announces New Literacy Program for NICU Families
Our Story Begins integrates reading into neonatal care, helping parents bond with their baby and boosting infant development from day one
Sep 25, 2025
New York, NY — NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue today announced Our Story Begins, a first-of-its-kind literacy program in New York that encourages families in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to read to their babies as part of routine care. The initiative provides families with books and literacy education, supporting bonding and promoting healthy language and cognitive development from the very start of life. Our Story Begins is distinguished by the parent education provided by nursing and medical staff, in combination with resources that enable families to build personal libraries and continue these reading practices beyond discharge. Encouraging families to read to their babies also helps families feel in control and more involved in their baby’s care.
Since its start in May, Our Story Begins has distributed nearly 300 books to families and trained Bellevue Hospital’s NICU staff to guide parents on the benefits of reading aloud. All materials are provided in English and Spanish, and families receive books based on the length of their baby’s stay, along with coaching from nurses on how a caregiver’s voice can comfort, calm, and stimulate development. The program was developed in partnership with Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read Program, which supports caregivers in fostering healthy relationships with their young children through shared reading.
“At Bellevue Hospital we are committed to caring for the whole child, and that begins on day one,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Chief Executive Officer Eric Wei, MD, MBA. “Our Story Begins reflects our long tradition of innovation and compassion, ensuring every family has the tools to nurture not only the health, but also the potential, of their baby. We extend our gratitude to the Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read team, as well as to the dedicated nurses and medical providers who deliver this vital resource to families in our NICU.”
“Our Story Begins is an early-literacy initiative to encourage families within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to utilize their voice to comfort their babies and nurture early development,” said Gabriela Jimenez-Thompson, Supervising Children’s Counselor for Reach Out and Read and program lead for this new initiative. “Our intention is to provide families admitted into the NICU autonomy in their child’s care in a moment when things might feel beyond their control. Reading gives parents a way to be part of their baby’s care. It brings their voice, their love, into the healing process.”
“Children look to caregivers to find comfort during challenging moments and for reassurance that they will be there,” Ms. Jimenez-Thompson added. “Our Story Begins provides the resources and encouragement to talk, read, and sing to their baby.”
The initiative builds on the Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read Program at Bellevue Hospital, which integrates literacy into pediatric care by giving children books at regular checkups and advising parents about daily, language-rich interactions. Bellevue Hospital’s Reach Out and Read program was the first in New York and has provided more than 300,000 books since its inception in 1993.
“It is a dream come true to be able to offer our services and support to families in the NICU,” said Claudia Aristy, Director of the Reach Out and Read Program at Bellevue Hospital. “We are always looking for innovative ways to extend the reach of our program as we share the powerful impact that early relational health and early literacy can have on young children and the families who love them. This new initiative would not have been possible without the full engagement of our colleagues on the NICU medical staff, Clinical Services, and our Maternal Child Health Nursing team.”
“Our nurses are proud to be part of this important initiative, the first of its kind in a neonatal ICU,” said Liliana Escobar, RN, BSN, RNC-NIC, Head Nurse in Bellevue Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. “We see how Our Story Begins really brings parents and babies together. Parents and families often feel helpless when they see their babies connected to medical equipment and are not able to hold them. We help explain to them how talking and reading to them stimulates their brain development and encourages bonding during a very difficult time.”
“All of the nurses on the unit have been trained to participate in this great resource,” Ms. Escobar added. “We are able to provide every family with two books for their baby when they are admitted into the unit. Children who are admitted for longer receive additional books on a monthly basis.”
Parents involved in the program have shared that having the books helped make them feel bonded to their baby.
“We didn’t expect to be in the NICU but My Reading Promise (a prenatal education provided by the Reach Out and Read team) encouraged us to read to our baby and with Our Story Begins we were able to keep these routines,” said one parent. “Having someone care about the well-being of our baby, not just in the physical sense, but also their emotional development was a comforting experience.”
“This was our second time being in the NICU, and having the books made this a better experience. Being able to read to my baby made this a more comfortable experience and having the books helped my husband and I bond with our babies.”
“With all the noise from the beeping, it was nice to have something that made me present with my baby,” said another parent. “It is so nice to have something that encourages time away from electronics and more time with books. With my first baby, the NICU was extremely stressful but having the books allowed me to focus on bonding with my baby while they were admitted.”
According to a study published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, families who read to their babies within the NICU were twice as likely to read to their baby three or more times a week after three months of discharge. A similar initiative in Canada collected information about parental experience and reported that 86% of families found reading to their babies in the NICU enjoyable and 69% said it helped them feel closer to their child.
According to Reach Out and Read’s own study on implementation in the NICU, exposure to the mother’s voice in the NICU has been shown to increase infant awareness, improve feeding, reduce procedural pain levels, decrease saturation and apnea events, and improve sleep patterns. Presently there is not an existing model that provides families with books as a standard component of their child NICU care.
Bellevue Hospital has a long history of innovation in neonatal care. It opened the nation’s first hospital maternity ward in 1799, and performed the first cesarean section in a US hospital in 1863.
Today, Bellevue Hospital is the largest Regional Perinatal Center (RPC) in New York State. It serves as a referral hub for high-risk pregnancies and neonates, with admission criteria that include infants born as early as 22 weeks gestational age up to full term, including those with complex surgical and genetic conditions. As a Regional Perinatal Center, Bellevue Hospital specializes in managing these high-risk cases, offering advanced care, and playing a pivotal role in education and best practice initiatives. The hospital trains healthcare professionals through hands-on clinical education and integrates the latest research into patient care, ensuring improved outcomes for mothers and infants and advancing the field of neonatal medicine. The RPC, which includes 10 affiliate hospitals, provides support for approximately 18,000 deliveries annually within the five boroughs.
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MEDIA CONTACT: 212-562-4516; BellevuePublicRelations@nychhc.org
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About NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is America’s oldest public hospital, established in 1736. Affiliated with the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the 851-bed hospital is a major referral center for highly complex cases, with 6,000 employees including highly skilled, interdisciplinary clinical staff. The hospital is a Level 1 Trauma Center and annually it sees about 103,000 emergency room visits, and more than 520,000 outpatient visits. Clinical centers of excellence include: Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care; Cardiovascular Services; Bariatric Surgery; Designated Regional Perinatal Center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; Children’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program; and Cancer Services. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/bellevue and follow us on Facebook and X (Twitter).
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 46,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.