The nurses at Parkwest Hospital’s Childbirth Center may specialize in delivering babies, but they deliver a lot more along the way. The labor and delivery nursing staff understands that early exposure to books and language is critical to brain development. By helping parents enroll their babies for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library before they’re discharged, these nurses ensure that infants born in their hospital have access to books from the very beginning. Children registered at birth will receive 60 books before they graduate at age five.
On Monday, Sept. 20, the board for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Knox County honored the nurses with boxed lunches, flowers and some bookends. The presentation had been planned as part of an annual fundraiser called “The Seeds of Imagination Luncheon” to have been held at Cherokee Country Club on Sept. 16 but was canceled due to Covid-19. Instead, the Imagination Library board took the presentation to the hospital. Holly Woodlee and Christy Richardson accepted the award on behalf of the Childbirth Center.
Administered locally through the Knox County Public Library, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is responsible for registering children, reaching out to families, and most importantly, raising money to support the program in our area. To learn more about the program, please go here.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for Knox County Public Library. She writes a Wednesday feature for KnoxTNToday.com.