Mahak Hospital

Mahak Hospital

Location: Mahak Hospital, Darabad, Tehran
Age-group: Preschool, Elementary School, Middle School
Number of Children: 800
Number of Teachers: 13
Start Date: July 2013/extended July 2014
End Date: January 2015

The Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature in collaboration with Mahak Hospital decided to implement Read with Me for children with cancer in Summer 2013. The purpose of this project is to bring quality books to child patients in order to increase their living quality.

Read with Me project provided book bags for 400 children from preschool to high school in 2013.The bags were given to children’s families along with Parent’s Guide Books. Reading volunteers in Mahak Hospital and psychologists participated in two workshops which were held by Read with Me experts to improve the psychological situation of hospitalized children with cancer by reading books.

Due to the project`s success in the first year, hospital officials provided book bags for 400 other children in Summer ۲۰۱۴. They asked Read with Me experts to hold two more workshops for volunteers and psychologists.
Up to now, Read with Me has held five workshops for 40 psychologist and volunteers in Mahak Hospital. A total of 800 children have benefited from this project.

This project has been held with the financial support of Mahak benefactors and a number of other benefactors.

Overview

Read with Me held three Reading Aloud workshops for the Department of Psychology & Social Work of Mahak Hospital. Department of Psychology participated in two workshops held by experts to improve the psychological situation of hospitalized children by reading books. The first workshop was held in this department on ۴ July 2013. The topics included in this workshop were: disease, hope and effort in children’s books, choosing appropriate books, knowing children’s literature and Reading Aloud techniques. The second workshop was held among child patients on ۱۹ August 2013. The purpose of this workshop was Reading Aloud for child audiences. In this workshop trainers worked directly with sick children to let Mahak teachers experience Reading books to these children.

The third workshop was held on ۱۵ September 2013. This workshop was attended by head of the Social Work Group of Mahak Hospital and Book Teralee Group (Distribution of books in different parts) and a group of volunteers who were ready to Read-Aloud to children. Read with Me was introduced in this workshop and trainers discussed a successful Reading Aloud session and Reading Aloud techniques.

This project was held only for Preschool and Elementary School children in 2014. IRHCL held two other workshops for Mahak Hospital. The first was held for Hospital psychologists on ۱۰ January 2014. “Story Elements” and “Reading Aloud Techniques” were introduced in this workshop. The second workshop was held in Social Work section of Mahak for the volunteers who work in Book Tralee Group or the ones who read with children. In this workshop, experts discussed the importance of books and reading, holding a successful Reading Aloud session, Reading Aloud techniques, motivation and the importance of this work.