The "Petziklinik", or the Teddy Bear Hospital, is a concept used in hospitals abroad, with the aim of helping children to be less afraid of hospitals and doctors through roleplay with their favourite stuffed toys.
Children who are unwell or in pain are often scared or uncomfortable during treatment, which can complicate matters for medical personnel.
"We have to use lots of strategies to address children who do not want to be here, and don't want to be treated by us," explains paediatrician Charlotte Pierron, who organised the Teddy Bear Hospital project. "We have to take time, to talk to them and distract them."
The toy hospital is designed to introduce children the hospital world through play, when they are not ill and can get to know the way staff work without underlying anxiety.
This marked the first occasion such an event has taken place at the CHL. 35 nurses, psychologists, medical assistants for radiology and paediatricians participated in the project, distributed across nine workshops designed to mimic the emergency department triage and treatment system.
The children were split into three groups to go through the workshops, accompanied by volunteers from the charity asbl Pimpampel. The activities lasted around two hours.
Spaces were booked up immediately, with 55 children and their toys attending and getting to know the hospital in a new way.
The project was ultimately successful, with one child telling RTL: "I saw my teddy was there too and having the same things done, so it meant I was less scared."
