Stuffed toy useage in child trauma situations

I have seen/read where fire, EMS, and some trauma units use teddy bears & other plush toys to soothe children in trauma situa-tions. I need a source for info on this practice...psychology of, practical appli-cation, etc. ANY help is appreciated!!

I don't know where statistics are on it, but my dept. has been doing it for 11 years. I believe a womens group here saw it somewhere and thought it would be a good "servicce project" to implantment in this area. We usually give a stuffed animal up to age 5 to 7 depending on the child. Biggest trick is making sure that the Animals are clean as most have been donated somewhere along the way. If your looking at suppling the animals A - cost per animal and B - where your going to keep them as quantity gets a better price.

It seems to do the trick with some children and others... well they definitally have a mind of their own. Enough said!

fdemt@wi.net

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fdemt@wi.net

Target does it- Walmart does it- or you can buy them locally or from the company that operates the Crane Machines at the stores. But be sure and put them in ziplock bags so that they are "new" when they are needed.

Check with your local Ruritan group - ours has kept us supplied with "Rudy Ruritan" Bears for years. The National Ruritan makes the bears available to the local clubs at a discount.

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We have used stuffed toys in our rigs for about two years now. They work great in calming down young children. We were actually lucky to have a local business that a couple of our firefighters work donate hundreds of stuffed animals. We just give them to the children.

Our ems unit has been giving children stuffed animals to children for 5 yrs now. I have personally given out several. We not only give them to the trauma patient, but also to kids whose parents are injured. It really is a big benefit and seems to ease their minds. As far as purchasing them, all of ours have been donated by our own membership. Most of them have came from our own kids as they outgrow them. In my opinion, it is a very worthwhile cause. Good luck to you.
Roger Moss
peat@chipsnet.com

I'm a Rescue Firefighter with the New South Wales Fire Brigades (Sydney, Australia). We started several years ago with trauma teddies on the Rescue units, now they are on every response unit (engines, ladders, rescues etc). We've found they are great for keeping young children calm at accidents and fires.
The Red Cross donates our trauma teddies.

We have a local radio station which is in the process of puting on "Teddy Bears on Patrol" program. They have ask that people drop off a new or like new teddy bear at selected drop off points. They then have someone pickup the bears and then they give them out to the local fire, police and ambulance services. They started the program about 2 months ago and they have provided us with about 40 or 50 bears in our department alone. Luckily we have only give out 1 or 2 to children in MVAs. They seem to work for the children. The bears are something for the kids to hold onto, while the world seems to be coming apart for them.