Brookings Rotary Provides “The Brain Game” for Babies Born at Brookings Hospital in 2019

  • January 28, 2019

Larry Janssen of the Brookings Rotary Club delivered the first copies of, “The Brain Game: Fun Ways to Help Your Baby’s Mind Grow,” to Brookings Hospital’s obstetrics unit. Each baby born in 2019 at Brookings Hospital will receive a copy of the booklet thanks to a grant to Brookings Health System Foundation received from the Brookings Rotary. Pictured with Janssen are Obstetrics Director Mary Schwaegerl and Foundation Director Sara Schneider.
Larry Janssen of the Brookings Rotary Club delivered the first copies of, “The Brain Game: Fun Ways to Help Your Baby’s Mind Grow,” to Brookings Hospital’s obstetrics unit. Each baby born in 2019 at Brookings Hospital will receive a copy of the booklet thanks to a grant to Brookings Health System Foundation received from the Brookings Rotary. Pictured with Janssen are Obstetrics Director Mary Schwaegerl and Foundation Director Sara Schneider.

Thanks to a grant from the Brookings Rotary Club to Brookings Health System Foundation, each baby born in 2019 at Brookings Hospital will receive the booklet, “The Brain Game: Fun Ways to Help Your Baby’s Mind Grow.”

The booklet was developed by pediatricians, neonatologists and child development specialists as a how-to guide for parents raising children from birth to three years of age.

“Babies are born ready to learn,” said Obstetrics Director Mary Schwaegerl. “According to the CDC, brain development depends on proper nutrition starting during a mother’s pregnancy; exposure to toxins and infections; and the experiences a child has with other people and the world. “The Brain Game” from the Brookings Rotary will help parents create experiences and an environment that stimulate brain development and growth for their baby.”

Originally developed by the La Crosse Rotary Club of Wisconsin, today the booklet is made available to and adopted by many other Rotary Clubs in the U.S. for health education projects in their community. The idea for implementing this project in Brookings came from Marcia and Larry Janssen while visiting the Lacrosse Rotary Friendship Booth at the 2017 Rotary International Convention in Atlanta.

“With encouragement received from incoming club president, Reva Johnson, and several other members, we wrote a grant proposal to help fund this Brookings Rotary Club project in partnership with Brookings Health System," said Larry Janssen.

Parents of newborns at Brookings Hospital started receiving the booklets as of Jan. 1.

Brookings Hospital’s OB unit, New Beginnings Birth Center, has eight beds with five labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum (LDRP) suites. The unit provides full OB services to expectant parents and enables area residents to deliver their baby close to home with a local physician. To learn more about New Beginnings Birth Center, please visit www.brookingshealth.org/OB.

About Brookings Health System

Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes the 49-bed Brookings Hospital, the 79-bed The Neighborhoods at Brookview nursing home, Brookhaven Estates senior living apartments, Yorkshire Eye Clinic, and medical clinics in Arlington, White and Volga, South Dakota. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, surgical and extended care services. The emergency room is staffed 24 hours a day and provides around the clock patient needs ranging from minor injuries to life threatening crises. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.