PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 Books can be an escape. Reading connects us all as human beings, and it gets us through the day. <\/p>\n
Books are also something you can count on, and that\u2019s why the medical director at Circle the City is using them to help her patients feel less alone. <\/p>\n
So, in a medical supply closet most folks will never see at the facility, there\u2019s a new addition that\u2019s helping patients one chapter at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have lived lives. They\u2019ve got stories,\u201d said Dr. Rebecca Moran. \u201cThey need to be connected to the rest of us and to humanity and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Moran is the medical director at the nonprofit, which helps those experiencing homelessness across the Valley<\/a>. Arizona\u2019s Family recently met with her, and it\u2019s clear she\u2019s passionate about her job and reading. <\/p>\n As a lifelong reader, Dr. Moran was inspired by her own mother to set up a free little library in the waiting room of the Circle the City Downtown Family Health Center in Phoenix. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was really a good idea and I started looking through the books and I picked up this one about \u2018pitchology\u2019,\u201d said patient Myron Daniel. <\/p>\n Daniel has always been a reader and has even sold encyclopedias. The books have been so unexpectedly popular with patients like Daniel that Dr. Moran says they have given out hundreds in just the last month. <\/p>\n \u201cOur patients have fallen on some tough times,\u201d Dr. Moran said. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t change the fact that they like to read. They like to develop their minds. They like to feel connected. We all do.\u201d<\/p>\n At first, Dr. Moran solicited donations from Circle the City employees and donors. Since it\u2019s taken off, she\u2019s been delighted to get donations from stores like Half Price Books in Phoenix.<\/p>\n Circle the City now needs help with book donations from the public. If you\u2019d like to help, contact Leslie Freidman at (602) 612-9771. <\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n