Teddy Bear Hospital visits Chadstone
The delightful Teddy Bear Hospital is returning to Chadstone for its annual Winter Check-up this July, supported by The University of Melbourne and The Royal Children’s Hospital.
When: 10am and 5pm, Saturday 23 July and Sunday 24 July
Where: Located outside David Jones and Build-A-Bear, Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Road CHADSTONE
Cost: $5/child $10/family to drop into the Teddy Bear Hospital, proceeds are donated to The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Also you can book into one of 8 workshops, cost $10, which include an additional ‘heart ceremony’, a $10 Build-A-Bear gift voucher and the opportunity to write a get well card for patients at The Royal Children’s Hospital – which is sent to a patient at the hospital along with a bear donated by Build-A-Bear. Click here to BOOK.
The Teddy Bear Hospital will be staffed by more than 500 student volunteers from medical and allied health schools including Nursing, Dentistry, Optometry, Audiology and Physiotherapy. Teddy X-rays, triage, surgery and a teddy ambulance service will also be available for the mock consultations with hundreds of teddies with sore tummies, teeth and toes.
There is much to love about the Teddy Bear Hospital – we’ve been to the hospital held as part of the Good Friday Appeal activities at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and it was so much fun (I literally could’ve left the 8-year-old there for the day, he got completely swept away with the whole experience!). So I couldn’t wait to share this media preview with my 2.5-year-old niece.
The medical students are so gorgeous – it’s wonderful for the kids to experience the different kinds of things that happen in hospitals in a friendly and fun way, but equally it’s an amazing opportunity for the students to hone their skills of engaging with children (everyone we met got 10/10 from me!).
The Teddy Bear Hospital aims to reduce childhood anxiety about a trip to the doctor or hospital, while giving medical and allied health students experience in communicating and engaging with child patients and dealing with the unexpected. All funds raised go to The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.
Children and carers can bring in their teddy for the Winter Check-up anytime between 10am and 5pm over the weekend, for a cost of $5 per child or $10 for a family admission which goes to The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Teddies are also available for sale.
Chadstone is also offering eight bookable workshops over the weekend, in conjunction with Build-A-Bear, where children can take part in a ‘heart ceremony’ and write a get well card for patients at The Royal Children’s Hospital, at a cost of $10. Up to 700 bears will then be donated to the Teddy Bear Hospital program.
50 Chadstone retailers will also be fund-raising for the Good Friday Appeal over the weekend.
For more details visit the Chadstone website here.
