Teddy Bear Clinic teaches youngsters about hospital through play: 'the kiddos had a blast'

“It’s not scary, I promise,” Kim Christensen assured the 4-year-old child holding her hand as they walked by the St. Luke’s Magic Valley emergency department.

Christensen is the child care director at a preschool program in Twin Falls. More than two dozen 4- and 5-year-olds from her program recently took a field trip to the hospital to take part in St. Luke’s first Teddy Bear Clinic — a special event where children could learn through medical play.

While many of the students were excited, some were nervous — a common emotion children experience at the hospital.

“For many children, the first experience they have in a hospital may be going to the emergency department for stiches or even to the operating room for surgery,” said Hallie Chancellor, a certified child life specialist at St. Luke’s Magic Valley. “My role is to help support children and their families with comfort, coping skills and education.”

For the Teddy Bear Clinic, Chancellor recruited a multidisciplinary team of St. Luke’s staff to take the children (and their bears) through a variety of sights, sounds and situations they might encounter in the hospital.

The event started outside with the kids gathered at the ambulance bay, where Magic Valley Paramedics manager Stan Flint broke the ice with a couple of simple questions.

“Who likes ambulances?” he asked the wide-eyed group. “Who wants to look inside?”

Hands quickly shot up, with each child walking through the ambulance before selecting their very own bear. Each child received a special passport for their teddy bear with spaces for stickers to collect at each clinic station where they learned about vital signs, stitches, IVs, nutrition and more.

“We help their heart,” Flint told the kids, demonstrating CPR on a bear, “then we bring them to the hospital.”

At another Teddy Bear Clinic station, Garth Blackburn showed children how to carefully clean their bears and apply bandages to hold wounds together.

“I want you to take these home with you so you can keep a good eye on your teddy bear in case you need more dressings and bandages,” Blackburn, a nurse manager in the emergency department, told the kids as they got ready to move to the next station.

Melissa Johnson works as an MRI technologist and clinical educator at St. Luke’s. Armed with a computer program of MRI noises, she helped the children position their bears on a special child-sized imaging model.

“It was great because the kids were able to listen to the different noises,” Johnson said. “Medical imaging can be very scary for kids, so it was a pleasure to show them that it can be fun.”

Shannon Hall, an assistant nurse manager for pre-operative services at St. Luke’s Magic Valley, described the energetic event as a fun mix of controlled chaos.

“It was amazing to see the kids engage and share their thoughts as they explored different areas of the hospital,” she said. “I believe this experience was incredibly beneficial, as hospitals can sometimes feel like intimidating places for children. Watching them satisfy their curiosity through hands-on activities, and being there to answer their questions was truly rewarding.”

While the event was geared toward children, Christensen noted that she found the Teddy Bear Clinic beneficial, even for herself.

“As a parent and soon to be grandparent, it gave me a peace of mind to know more about what everything in the hospital is and how it is used,” she said.

The day may have started with nervous anticipation, but the trip back to school was full of excited chatter as the students shared what they had learned and showed off their bears.

“All the kiddos had a blast … arriving back at school, they were telling the others about the experience, and even using their teddy bears and tools they got to show them what is what,” Christensen said.  

Chancellor hopes that the lessons learned — and the fun experienced — at the Teddy Bear Clinic will help these kids and hopefully more to come.

“Giving kids age-appropriate familiarity with medical equipment and procedures can really help to calm fears,” she said. “I’m so thankful to the team that made this happen and hope that we can offer more Teddy Bear Clinics in the future!”