Teddy Bear Hospital a huge success
Sixty-four teddy bears were successfully cured of their ailments at Mildura’s first ever Teddy Bear Hospital!
Wednesday morning, the concerned young-lings of Mildura West Primary School chaperoned their “sick” teddy bears to a makeshift Hospital set up in their classrooms. Teddy bear illnesses ranged from broken bones to asthma to school-itis.
The “Hospital Clinics” were set up and run by a group of gregarious medical students from Mildura Regional Clinical School.
Teddy Bear Hospital is about helping children engage with doctors and the hospital process. The aim is to take the fear out of seeing the doctor, and to replace it with positive associations.
This year, it was all about the “Patch-Adams” approach. Above all else, we wanted the kids to laugh, giggle and snort water out their noses. Therefore, the stations were funny, interactive, and slightly quirky – the goal was to subconsciously have the kids associate “Doctors” and “Hospital” with “… really fun and silly.”
The children had the chance to plaster their thumbs, bandage teddy, use real stethoscopes, drive cardboard ambulances, and perform “surgery” on “big Ted” whilst looking ultra-cute in their funny-faced mask, decorated gloves and over-sized gowns. The day involved a lot of glitter, model skeletons, x-ray machines and flashing over-sized noses. And a lot more!
The children had a blast and were sad to see the doctors leave the school. The opportunity to build the rapport and establish trust early in a child’s life is so important. This positive relationship is what we can rely on as future doctors to offer these children the best possible care.
As up-and-coming doctors the opportunity to engage with children in a structured, health care-type environment, similar to what they may experience at the hospital, is very valuable. The doctor-patient relationship is important, and children are not an exception to that. Although when it comes to building rapport and gaining trust, they add a dimension of complexity and Teddy Bear Hospital is all about learning to overcome that.
By Danielle Strong, Year 4 Mildura
Teddy specialist Fleur with her fellow 'doctors' at the Teddy Bear Hospital