Babies With Books Read-a-Thon

DIGNITY HEALTH - St. Mary Medical Center’s Long Beach NICU proudly ranked #1 globally in the 2025 Babies With Books Read-a-Thon. With an outstanding 3,726 reading sessions, averaging nearly 32 books per infant daily, they led 249 participating NICUs worldwide. This achievement highlights SMMC’s commitment to promoting literacy, bonding and vital brain development for their tiniest patients. Those who read with the little ones, building “big brains one book at a time” include, left to right, Perry Palm, Joy Crisostomo, Gabby Tiamzon, Linzy Davidson, Cindy Campbell, Sandy Welke, Evie Ward and Maria Collum.