A little girl sits reading at a small brightly painted table inside the waiting room at a local health clinic. A little boy approaches. He looks scared.

"Are you getting a shot too?" he asks.

"No," she replies. "I'm here for a book."

Since 2008, the Montezuma County Public Health Department has partnered with Reach Out and Read to provide their patients with brand new books when they come in for immunizations and check-ups. The program helps to increase children's vocabularies, improve their chances of school success and enhance their attention span, said Laurie Montaño, a registered nurse at the clinic.

"The kids love the books," she said.

Upon entering the exam room, Montaño said the first order of business is giving her patient a new book. Participating patients range from six months old up to five years of age, as outlined by Reach Out and Read program guidelines.

"We actually give the kids a prescription to read," she added.

Complete with a nurse's signature, the prescription includes the date, child's name and instructions to read every night before bed.

In addition to increased childhood literacy rates, the program also helps to foster better parenting skills, Montaño said. The direct attention a child receives when an adult holds them in their lap and reads to them enhances bonding, she affirmed.

"We want children to have a positive relationship to reading," Montaño said.

Montaño said the health department also caters to a variety of ethnic groups, providing Spanish-speaking clients with Spanish books, and even Chinese-speaking patients with books written in Chinese.

"We want them to speak, read and write in their native language," Montaño said.

The program is not publicly funded, but instead relies on both national and state chapters of Reach Out and Read to provide most of the books for the health department. The Cortez Kiwanis Club has also assisted with a couple of grants.

Kiwanis Club treasurer Tracey Hately said the organization aims to help all youth across Montezuma County, and that the Read Out and Read program is one of many the civic club sponsors. She added that the value of early childhood literacy is paramount to the community.

"Reach Out and Read is a great program, and that's what we are all about," she said.

While training to become a nurse, Montaño said she never envisioned she would one day be writing prescriptions for childhood literacy.

"A child has to be healthy, and part of being healthy is literacy," she said. "You can't get anywhere without it."

Southwest Memorial Primary Care, Cortez Primary Care, Mancos Valley Health and Southwest Memorial Physicians are also partners with Reach Out and Read, serving nearly 800 children under the age of 5.

There are more than 200 sites participating in the program across Colorado. Nationwide, Reach Out and Read is offered at more than 5,000 health care clinics.

tbaker@cortezjournal.com