Turning Pages, Healing Hearts Opens a New Chapter at Stead Family Children’s Hospital
Caitlin Clark Foundation program brings books, creativity, and opportunities for connection to pediatric patients in Iowa City.
August 17, 2026
On August 17, the Caitlin Clark Foundation launched Turning Pages, Healing Hearts at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. The program is designed to provide books and meaningful experiences for children in the hospital, offering comfort, imagination, and joy during what is otherwise a chapter of unpredictability and challenges.
The celebration included a ribbon cutting, an introduction to the program, and an especially exciting first: patients getting to use the new Caitlin Clark Foundation book vending machine to pick out books of their own.
More Than a Book
Turning Pages, Healing Hearts is built around a simple idea: even during a difficult hospital stay, small moments can make a meaningful difference.
In partnership with Scholastic, the program works alongside Child Life teams to give pediatric patients opportunities to explore, create, and make choices throughout their stay. Children receive Joy Packets with activities they can complete to receive tokens for the book vending machine. They can then browse the available titles, make their own selection, and keep the book they choose.
The experience continues throughout the year with a new featured book and activity each quarter, giving Child Life teams additional ways to create engaging experiences around reading. For patients, that means a book becomes more than something to pass the time. It can be a story to get lost in, a choice they get to make for themselves, and something special to bring home.
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A hospital stay can make a child feel like so much is out of their control. Turning Pages, Healing Hearts gives them something that is theirs to choose, theirs to enjoy, and theirs to take home. A book may seem simple, but in a hard moment, it can offer comfort, imagination, and a little bit of normalcy. That’s what we hope this program creates for kids and families.
MARY COFFIN, PRESIDENT OF THE CAITLIN CLARK FOUNDATION
Bringing Turning Pages, Healing Hearts to Iowa City
Stead Family Children’s Hospital is one of three hospitals selected for the pilot launch of Turning Pages, Healing Hearts, joining Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis and Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines. Together, these first three hospital partners are helping bring the program’s mission to life: inspiring courage, independence, and care while putting more books into children’s hands.
The Iowa City launch also brings the Foundation’s work close to a community that has played an important role in Caitlin’s own journey, creating another opportunity to invest in young people through education and reading.
About the Caitlin Clark Foundation
Caitlin’s passion and joy on the court inspire her Foundation’s work off the court. The Caitlin Clark Foundation exists to open doors for kids to learn, grow, and thrive through education, nutrition, and sports.
