3,600 Free books given to patients in hospitals

On the 22nd of September the Read Mór ‘Book Doctors’ and their teams gave 3,600 free books from their Library Trolleys as they visited the wards and public spaces in 7 hospitals across Ireland including Letterkenny Hospital : Connolly Hospital, Dublin; Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, Galway; St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny; Naas Hospital, Kildare; Ennis Hospital, Clare; and Croom Hospital, Limerick. This project was a partnership between the Arts Council and HSE Healthy Ireland.  To find out more go to http://www.culturenight.ie

Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly said: “In a world filled with technological distractions, the joy of reading a physical book remains an invaluable resource. Read Mór is all about the public engaging with stories, ideas, and emotions that transport us to different realms of our imagination. This year, Read Mór helped bring the magic of Culture Night to those who could not join in with the night’s events in the usual way. She added that the arts council could not have done this without the enthusiastic support of so many writers and publishers and that we are especially grateful to our partners in HSE Healthy Ireland for their support in making Read Mór happen in hospitals across Ireland this Culture Night.”

HSE Director of Strategy & Research, Dr Philip Crowley said: “The HSE was delighted to be part of the event. The visit from the Read Mór Book Doctors and their teams to the hospitals was a wonderful novelty and added some joy to our patients and healthcare staff. We cannot underestimate the benefits of reading to our mental health and wellbeing, and we hope this project will increase awareness of those proven benefits. Many of the benefits that reading bring can last a lifetime and it’s never too late to start reading”.

HSE National Healthy Ireland Lead, Sarah McCormack said: “Participation in Read Mór was another key step forward in our implementation of Healthy Ireland promoting the building of healthy environments and adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours. This initiative also included staff working on the night. We hope it will remind them of the importance of taking time out for their own mental health and wellbeing and how a book can be such a valuable resource.”