Bilingual ‘Captain Westside’ book aims to alleviate medical fears for Wilmington kids

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Wilmington’s Westside Family Healthcare has released its own children’s book to boost literacy and ease children’s medical anxieties. The story features the heroic Captain Westside, who helps alleviate kids’ fears about visiting the doctor. With engaging adventures and reassuring messages, Captain Westside turns the daunting experience of medical visits into a fun and educational journey.

Early childhood literacy is a key priority for the health center, says Megan Werner, family physician and associate medical director of population health and quality at Westside. To support that literacy mission, the center participates in the Reach Out and Read program, which provides books to children at every visit to improve their literacy, speech, and overall health.

“[They] help us to provide books to children at their early childhood visit so that we can have those conversations with parents and other caregivers about the importance of early childhood literacy [and] the benefits for kids,” she said. “That sound of your voice, hearing the keys of the language, it’s really important for them to build their vocabulary, to understand about reading, to be interested in reading, to develop a love for reading.”

To enhance its focus on children’s health, Westside created its first children’s book, reflecting the legacy of retired CEO Lolita Lopez, whose 30-year dedication mirrors Captain Westside.

“To celebrate her legacy and to honor her, we had the idea to create a children’s book that really talked about the value of primary care and the role of health centers in communities and spoke to the importance of getting that kind of regular healthcare for kids,” Werner said.

The book tells the story of a child who is nervous about her routine visit, but with Captain Westside by her side, she learns about her health and how to take care of herself.

“She doesn’t really want to go, and when she gets there, she meets Captain Westside, the superhero, who’s going to stay by her side. Who says, ‘I’m going to help you understand what’s going on, we’re gonna do this together.’ And so Captain Westside leads her through all of the parts of staying healthy,” she said. The book touches on a variety of areas, including “nutrition, behavioral health, about feelings, about what we should be eating through oral health, [and] going to visit the dentist.”

At their official launch event last month, Lopez read “Captain Westside and the Health Heroes” at the Wilmington Public Library, joined by children, staff members, and government officials, including Governor Carney and Delaware’s first lady Tracey Quillen Carney.

The center’s goal is to distribute 6,000 books to families and children across their locations throughout the state, encouraging them to integrate reading into their holistic health plans.

“It’s a social determinant of health, and it’s a really important thing for our communities, for our population to understand,” Werner said. “We know that if people have stronger literacy skills, they all have better health outcomes. When people have low literacy skills, they often have a lower reported health status, they have higher mortality, they are less likely to use preventive health services and more likely to use other services like being hospitalized.”

Westside’s patient community is culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse. 48% of patients identify as Latino/Hispanic, 29% as Black/African American, 45% as White, 3% as more than one race, and 1% as Asian. Additionally, 44% are best served in a language other than English. Therefore, the book is available in both English and Spanish.

Copies of the book are available at any of Westside Family Healthcare facilities or on its website.