Our Legacy Today --- Winter 2020 ---
Holiday Greetings and Warm Wishes during this I don’t have to tell you that 2020 has been the strangest, hardest, and most challenging year most of us have ever experienced. This new normal has turned our homes into a combination of office, gym, restaurant, and childcare facility, and no one quite knows when this will change. This year has taught us so much about our own resiliency and our ability to adapt and overcome adverse circumstances, and we are thankful that Legacy’s friends and donors have stood by us as we sought new ways to continue treating at-risk families across Southeast Texas. So many of our supporters have stepped up and donated their time, talent, and treasure to ensure that we were able to keep seeing patients during the early days of the pandemic, and that important events like the 10th Annual Frank Billingsley Golf Classic and Mint Julep stayed on the calendar. We have been working harder than ever to keep our patients, staff, and their families healthy and safe, and that job was made significantly easier thanks to donors like you. Even the seasons this year have been different, as we saw hurricanes well into November. What won’t change, however, is the need for a Season of Giving. So many Americans lost their jobs and health insurance in 2020 that we expect to see record numbers of uninsured patients and families in the coming months. The holidays will look entirely different this year as most families will not be able to gather and celebrate their timehonored, beloved traditions.
Legacy Chief Development Officer Chree Boydstun reading with a friend
During this Season of Giving, I’d like to encourage all of Legacy’s donors to consider making a gift to Legacy’s Little Readers, which gives an age-appropriate children’s book to pediatric patients at all well-child visits. This program is funded entirely through donations, and it’s because of Houston’s generous philanthropic community that we’ve been able to give away more than 160,000 books since the program started in late 2015. Donations are down across the board this year due to the pandemic, so your support is essential in helping us keep this program alive into 2021. Shannon Hall and Marcus Sloan were among the first Little Readers Champions. “We all know that Legacy delivers first-rate health care to anyone who walks through their doors, but it’s the extra mile service found in programs like Little Readers that makes Legacy a truly special place,” says Hall. “Too many Legacy patient families can’t afford to buy books for their children but, thanks to Little Readers, children leave the doctor’s office with a new book just for them.” Legacy Pediatrician Dr. Larry Caesar
Fellow Little Readers Champion Fady Armanious adds, “Just the act of reading to children can help them improve their overall literacy, and Little Readers ensures that kids only have the books they need and that parents know the importance of reading those books together.” According to a 2019 study, young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids whose parents didn’t read to them. Children who hear more vocabulary words are better prepared to see those words in print later on, and the words they hear as youngsters take on special importance when they learn to read in school.
Little Readers Champions Marcus Sloan and Shannon Hall
We have been incredibly fortunate that so many of our community partners have already recognized the increased need for Legacy’s Little Readers. The Children’s Museum of Houston, H-E-B, the Elkins Foundation, Best Bridge to Heart, the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, Reach Out and Read, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, and the Mayor’s Adult & Family Literacy program have donated books to Little Readers in recent months. Please consider joining these philanthropic leaders by giving the gift of reading this holiday season by visiting https://legacy.community/LLRchampions. With your help, we can put 2020 in our rear view and help hundreds of at-risk children access the books they need. With your help, we can open a window to fabulous stories and characters for the children and families count on Legacy for their care, both inside and outside of the exam room.
LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH OPERATING BOARD
Alex Jessett, Chairperson Naveen Pinglay, Vice-Chairperson Richard “Ricky” Davidson, Treasurer • Ryan Martin, Secretary • Marissa Taler, At-Large/Executive Committee George Burch • Abigail Caudle, M.D. • Taryn Hargrove Gore • Gary Hammett • Bryan Hlavinka Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor, M.D. • Amanda Goodie-Roberts • Johnson Olatunji • Neftali Partida • Devin Vasquez