Delivering gifts of comfort, books

Countless new mothers at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital have heard these welcoming words at their door, spoken in a warm, resonant tone:

"How are you this morning? I'm Janie from the Read to Grow program, and congratulations on your baby. Is this your first child?"

Family members huddled in waiting rooms, anxious over loved ones in the operating room, have been greeted, too, by that same voice - asking how they're doing and offering help. So have patients in ICU and CCU.

This is what Janie Butts Pressley does - and has been doing for more than a decade - at Lawrence & Memorial in New London. As a dedicated volunteer, she plays a dual role. She helps patients and their families by seeking information they might want and by providing a sympathetic ear. And she brings the gospel of the importance of reading to new mothers as part of the Read to Grow program.

Pressley is perfectly cast to represent Read to Grow, which promotes early literacy. She understands the vital importance of reading. She was an elementary school teacher from 1968 until her retirement in 1998. For most of that time, she taught fifth grade at Flanders Elementary School in East Lyme. Among the honors she earned over the course of her career: the National Educator Award in 1990.

Even now, Pressley, 75, an East Lyme resident, continues to focus on teaching and reading. She works as a substitute and volunteers with the East Lyme Library Foundation.

She brings all that knowledge - not to mention enthusiasm - to her volunteer work at L&M.

"She's always positive and always encouraging," said Verna Swann, the patient relations manager who encouraged her friend Pressley to help out at L&M.

Pressley is one of the 15 volunteers selected for volunteer-patient liaison services at the hospital. She loves interacting with the staff, the patients and families.

"It's a place I really look forward to going," she said, simply.

Pressley, who is from South Carolina, said, "In the country, they say there are things money can't buy. One of the greatest gifts you can give a person is your time."

Indeed, Pressley comes by her desire to volunteer honestly. Growing up in the sharecropping town of Nesmith, she and her nine siblings were strongly encouraged to volunteer.

"My parents would make us go and help people do things, and we couldn't take any money," Pressley said. "Now, here I am, in my old age, doing and enjoying and finding so fulfilling those things I was taught."

Lessons learned

Pressley and her family worked in the fields - tobacco and cotton were the main crops - and she continued to do that even when she went home during the summers from college. It was hard work, to say the least, but Pressley said she learned about responsibility and cooperation.

Growing up, too, she developed a passion for the written word.

"The few books they had at the school's library, you couldn't take home," she said. "So everything I could get my hands on to read, I read. Sometimes, I was reading the same book over and over again. I've always had a love for reading."

It's a love she brings to her Read to Grow volunteering. The statewide, nonprofit program helps parents develop their children's literacy and provides free books for kids. A book - currently, the selection is "Baby Day" by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace - is part of a packet the new parents receive at the hospital from Read to Grow.

Priscilla Russo, the Read to Grow Books for Babies hospital coordinator, said that Pressley is one of their premier volunteers.

"She's a great, articulate, and fun woman," Russo said. "I think she has fun talking to the families and explaining how important it is. ... She's now seeing some of her students having children. That gives her great joy."

For Pressley - who has three grown sons of her own - one of the most memorable encounters was the first time she met a former student who had just become a parent. It happened nine years ago. She printed out her list of new parents and saw a familiar and distinctive name: Dieter Bromkamp. She walked into the hospital room and - well, we'll let Bromkamp take it from here.

"It was amazing because I heard her voice - I didn't even see her - but I heard her voice in the hallway, and it was like a flashback to when I was in fourth grade. ... Next thing you know, she comes to the door, holding a book," he said. "I lost it. I couldn't believe it. It was absolutely amazing."

Pressley was one of Bromkamp's favorite teachers, and one of the things he remembered most is how passionate she is about what she does.

Bromkamp, of course, introduced Pressley to his wife, Monica, and their new baby girl, Katarina. They caught up with each other. Pressley spoke about her work with Read to Grow promoting the importance of reading, and it's a message that resonated.

"It stuck in the family because my daughter is a big-time reader now," Bromkamp said. "Every day I see her reading a book, I always think back on the day when (Pressley) walked into that hospital room."

Pressley continues on with her mission. Pressley started one recent day at L&M by printing out a list of new mothers. As part of her routine, she noted which mothers have already been seen and checked with the nurses on who shouldn't be seen because, say, they just gave birth that morning. She then knocked on the door of Simmone Delacruz-Consolini of Gales Ferry, who had given birth to daughter Sophia Williams the day before.

After Pressley introduced herself and explained why she was there, Delacruz-Consolini said she has a 3-year-old son, too, who loves having books read to him. They chatted happily about reading. Pressley delivered the Read to Grow message and encouraged Delacruz-Consolini to "read to your baby, talk to your baby, sing to your baby."

As she left, Pressley said, "If we can be of any help, let us know."

Russo neatly summarized Pressley's work this way: It's her job to plant the seed that the parents are the baby's first teacher - and that it's fun being the teacher.

She is certainly a believer in Read to Grow. She typed up a few paragraphs on what she sees as the program's benefits. Among the highlights: "As a retired elementary school teacher who believes that reading is the foundation for success and one who loved to read as a youngster, but didn't have any books to read at home, I believe this program is critical to our babies. Once you have lost many good years of reading, you never catch up. The sight of a book, the touch of a book, constantly hearing Mama's voice through reading and story telling not only helps the child develop appreciation for books, but he/she will enter school ready to continue to learn instead of beginning to learn.

'Vital' program

"This program hooks them to books before they discover the passive life of television and videos. It is neat when I visit a child's home and she/he hands me a book and says, 'Read to me.' We have to get them to value books while they are young, and that's why the 'Read to Grow' program is so vital."

While her efforts for Read to Grow are vital, so are her visits with other L&M patients and families. When she goes to the ICU, CCU or OR waiting rooms, she checks with the patients' families to see if she can help - if she can, say, check with hospital staff on how much longer an operation will be. On one occasion, she found out that a visitor was in the wrong waiting room and guided him to the right place.

What volunteers like Pressley do beyond that is just as important: they listen. Pressley knows how much people need a sounding board, especially in emotionally fraught situations.

"They say people might forget what you said, but they'll never forget how you made them feel," Pressley said.

The family members might just want to talk - about their loves ones, about how they are feeling.

"I really like what we do here," Pressley said. "It's one thing to treat the patient, but we have to value the family members."

Valuing the patient, obviously, is a given. Sometimes, that involves merely being present. One day, Pressley's director asked her to visit a patient who just wanted some company. He was so happy to see her, and they talked and talked - and laughed.

"To be able to get a patient to laugh - you know, laughter is good for the soul," she said.

Ultimately, Pressley said, "To be able to listen to people is just so important. That's one of the advantages of being a volunteer. Your time is your own - whatever they need from you."

k.dorsey@theday.com