Warm fuzzies at Teddy Hospital

THE Base Hospital foyer filled with curious young minds on Monday when health students united to provide Ballarat’s first Teddy Bear Hospital for children.

Striving to make kids feel less scared about going to hospital, the program invited children to bring in their teddies to meet university students from varying medical disciplines and learn how they treat their patients.

More than 250 children brought in their bears in the first hour, and all day these furry friends were sent through pretend MRI machines, given eye tests, teeth check-ups and more.

Organiser and Medical Student, Mieke Foster said the initiative doesn’t just decrease children’s anxieties and educate them about different areas of the hospital, it’s also an opportunity for professional networking.

“The benefit of bringing it to Ballarat is that there’s five health universities, and we’ve got students from paramedicine, physio, nursing, optometry, medicine all coming together,” she said.

“Today we’ve got ten stations with doctors, pathology, surgery, radiology, dietetics, dentistry, optometry, physiotherapy, nursing and anatomy, so we’re trying to highlight the breadth of courses offered in Ballarat.

“Kids are learning how to give that treatment to their teddies, and at the end they graduate as teddy doctors, so the idea is that they’re learning skills so that when they come to hospital, they’re not as scared when they have to be looked after by staff.”

Students have not only mingled with their future patients, but with potential colleagues.

“The whole team’s had the opportunity to meet so many people from a range of courses you wouldn’t otherwise meet,” Ms Foster said.

“We’ll all be working together in Ballarat in the future, so it’s a good way to start working together now.”

All attendees entered with a gold coin donation which will go towards funding a special treat for the Children’s Ward.

The Teddy Bear Hospital Team hopes the event will grow and run annually across a few days. They also hope the program can expand to local schools.