THE Base Hospital foyer filled with curious young minds on Monday when health students united to provide Ballarat\u2019s first Teddy Bear Hospital for children.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Organiser and Medical Student, Mieke Foster said the initiative doesn\u2019t just decrease children\u2019s anxieties and educate them about different areas of the hospital, it\u2019s also an opportunity for professional networking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe benefit of bringing it to Ballarat is that there\u2019s five health universities, and we\u2019ve got students from paramedicine, physio, nursing, optometry, medicine all coming together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we\u2019ve got ten stations with doctors, pathology, surgery, radiology, dietetics, dentistry, optometry, physiotherapy, nursing and anatomy, so we\u2019re trying to highlight the breadth of courses offered in Ballarat.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids 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\u2019re learning skills so that when they come to hospital, they\u2019re not as scared when they have to be looked after by staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students have not only mingled with their future patients, but with potential colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole team\u2019s had the opportunity to meet so many people from a range of courses you wouldn\u2019t otherwise meet,\u201d Ms Foster said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll all be working together in Ballarat in the future, so it\u2019s a good way to start working together now.\u201d<\/p>\n
All attendees entered with a gold coin donation which will go towards funding a special treat for the Children\u2019s Ward.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Base Hospital foyer filled with curious young minds on Monday when health students united to provide Ballarat\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n