Teddy Bear Hospital

It's not very often you can say you spent 2 hours at the hospital and enjoyed every minute of it .... except of course when you are at the Teddy Bears Hospital (TBH).

The TBH is a free annual event run by Medical Student volunteers from the University of Sheffield. They are a public health project aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 8 years old, but welcome children of any age to their event. They hope to reduce the anxiety that young children may feel when seeing doctors or other health professionals, or going to the hospital, it also gives the students hands on valuable experience with Children. I think after meeting my 2 a couple may be considering a different career :)

The student doctors teemed up with the ophthalmology students (that's eyes to you and me) and the dentistry school to promote healthy eating, eyes and teeth.

This years event was held at a museum local to both the the Children's Hospital and us, Weston Park Museum. readers of my blog will know we love the museum here's what happened last time we went.

We checked Gingy (with his poorly buttons) and Trunk (with his poorly eye) in at the Teddy Bears Hospital reception desks and received their Pawscription cards. Hopefully by the time we left the teddies would be fighting fit again. If not they could always hand in their card to show they had been to all the stands and pick up their medicine. 

The first stop, with a much shorted waiting time then normal, was "Teddy sees the doctor". Here the doctors checked their heart beats and checked their ears with the equipment. The boys were even allowed to put the stethoscopes in their own ears to listen to their heart beats.

Initial investigations finished it was time for teddy to get weighed and measured to make sure they were growing ok. 

 

Oh dear Trunks eye did need a bandage, but he was very brave!

It was then off to the MRI and X-ray booths just to check there was nothing wrong with their insides.

At the eye station the teddies had their eyes checked to make sure there was nothing wrong. The boys also had tests to check their vision in lots of fun ways.

  

Satisfied the teddy's were all ok we went off to look in the other room.

Here there was a chance to dress up as a doctor (the boys had already come prepared in their own coats), and have a spot of exercise. They then had a chance to discuss good things to find in cupboards (toothpaste and soap) and bad things they had to stay away from (bleach). They were also invited to sort foods into good healthy things to eat and those that should be eaten in moderation. 

Off to the dentist for a tooth brushing session. the boys happily scrubbed the teeth and made sure dragons were sparkling .... we were a bit concerned about who owned the very large brush tho!

The anatomy lesson was great fun as the boys learnt what each internal organ was and where it went inside you assisted by the help of a very colourful interactive tabard.

Worn out and ready for home the boys and their teddies went to collect their prescriptions (colouring book, pencils and a surprise toy) and a free piece of fruit. 

There was even a chance to give big bear a cuddle and hi-five.

For a free event it was fantastic, tho the rooms got rather hot with over 200 children visiting throughout the day. It's an event well worth taking your children too and would be lovely if they could run it more than once a year.

They do run workshops in schools so if you are a teacher it would be an experience well worth considering.

Why not check out the Teddy Bear Hospital's:

Website

Facebook page

Twitter Feed: @TBHSheffield

to keep up to date with their 2015 event.

If you would like to support the work of The Childrens Hospital in Sheffield you can do so by clicking the picture link below, thank you.