Montreal now has healthy teddy bears thanks to new hospital organized by medical students

Medical staff were initially concerned that the patient was too large to fit into the x-ray machine. But eventually it fit and was able to get its imaging done. The patient in question was a giant teddy bear and the X-ray machine was made out of cardboard and pool noodles—one of the many positive patient encounters that take place at the Teddy Bear Hospital. The hospital is an initiative of Alejandra Martinez and Bertrand Leduc, fourth-year medical students at McGill University. It aims to help children feel comfortable interacting with healthcare professionals. Since June, the program has visited three schools, treating the stuffed animals of more than 300 children ages four to seven. Children and their teddy bears make the rounds to various activity stations—or hospital departments—including surgery, pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, medical imaging and immunization. Children start with a triage of their fuzzy charges, checking vital signs and weight. A healthy living station has the teddy bears learning about life jackets, bike helmets, sunscreen, and balanced nutrition (spoiler alert: it’s more than just marmalade, Paddington). Each station reinforces a main message. For example, at the pharmacy, children teach their bears not to take medicine not meant for them. Children also don appropriate PPE for each section, from gowns and scrub caps in surgery to sunglasses in medical imaging. Most importantly, they get a sticker after completing the station. “Doing medical rotations, we see that kids are sometimes not comfortable with physicians and interacting with the healthcare system,” Martinez said. “It’s a program that really targets that.” The medical students surveyed the children pre-and post-visit to the Teddy Bear Hospital to see if the activities helped alleviate anxiety around visiting medical appointments. “We’ve had good results in sense that they had decreased anxiety when they were colouring little faces showing how they were feeling,” Leduc said. Feedback from principals and staff was also positive. The program has adapted since its first school visit to include more volunteers so children are able to have more one-on-one interactions with healthcare students. Now the volunteer to child ratio is close to one to two. The Teddy Bear Hospital is bilingual, just like McGill University’s faculty of medicine. And like a real hospital, there’s a range of healthcare professionals providing services. “We really look for volunteers in all different healthcare schools,” Martinez said. Students from nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy all volunteered to create and run the activity stations. The Teddy Bear Hospital may soon include dental checks since McGill’s faculty of dental medicine is keen to get involved. “We want to integrate as many multidisciplinary teams as possible to show what a real hospital looks like,” Leduc said. Read: Dr. Johanne Morel: a beacon in the North A future project is a teddy bear vaccination clinic with students in grade four, Martinez said. Students in Quebec get their hepatitis A and B and their HPV immunizations in grade four. The teddy bear clinic activity will start in 2023. There will also soon be satellite hospital in Gatineau. Martinez and Leduc are sharing program details with McGill University’s Gatineau campus so the Teddy Bear Hospital can run there. The Teddy Bear Hospital project started with the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations and is popular in Europe. Martinez got the idea from a friend studying medicine at Laval University in Quebec. Laval University’s Hôpital des Nounours recently returned after the pandemic with 145 children aged four to six years old making the rounds with their toutou in tow. Paramedics and their mascot Guéritou visited the pint-sized healthcare professionals at the end of the day to show them the inside of an ambulance. Laval’s Hôpital des Nounours is also run by students, and the event on Nov. 3 and 4 involved more than 85 volunteers. The Montreal program is offered free of charge to schools, and Martinez said that at least half the schools they visit will be in lower socio-economic neighbourhoods. The Teddy Bear Hospital is fueled by donations, which can be made through McGill University’s Alumni Association. Read: Catch a falling baby

Montreal now has healthy teddy bears thanks to new hospital organized by medical students

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