Teddy bear program educates kids about healthy habits, medical field
Brittany CarloniA visit to the doctor shouldn't be scary.
That's what employees from MedExpress Urgent Care shared with children at Collier Child Care Resources Child's Path Preschool on Thursday morning through the organization's Teddy Bear Clinic.
The clinic is an outreach program that provides hands-on learning opportunities for children to practice basic healthy habits and interact with common medical equipment, like stethoscopes, alongside their teddy bears.
"An important part of our initiative and serving our communities is promoting health and wellness, and we believe it starts at early childhood," said Stephanie Sanchez, a field marketing coordinator for MedExpress. "It's about embedding those good habits and educating children on health and wellness."
A large group of 3- to 5-year-old children sat hugging their teddy bears of various sizes and colors Thursday morning at Child's Path while they listened to the Med Express employees describe how a doctor uses medical tools like a blood pressure cuff and tongue depressors.
The MedExpress staff also used Sniffles, a large tan-colored bear in a navy blue T-shirt, to demonstrate how a doctor might bandage a leg or use an otoscope to check ears.
Many enthusiastic voices rang out from the group of preschoolers as they discussed healthy habits like staying active, drinking water and eating fruits and vegetables. The group also reviewed medical terms.
"I've got a bone broken in my teddy bear," one child said.
"Mine has a temperature!" another shouted.
The MedExpress staff finished the clinic by reading the picture book "The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor," while they also taught the children how to sneeze into their elbows.
Certificates decorated with teddy bears were handed out to the preschoolers when the clinic was over, and the children were given time to practice using the stethoscopes and other medical equipment on their own stuffed bears.
The MedExpress Urgent Care center, on the corner of Collier Boulevard and Pine Ridge Road, opened this year, and Sanchez said it is looking forward to bringing the Teddy Bear Clinic to other schools and child care centers in the Naples and Golden Gate communities.
For Lauren Reiff, a MedExpress front office assistant, seeing the enthusiasm from the children as they learn about healthy habits is her favorite part of leading the Teddy Bear Clinics.
"It's great to teach them that going to the doctor isn't as scary as it sounds and to make them more comfortable with everything," she said.
Karen Pattison, the Child's Path center director who brought her own teddy bear for the MedExpress clinic, said the early exposure to real life experiences might make it easier for the children at a future doctor's visit.
"This isn't something that's a one-and-done deal. These are experiences they're going to have their whole lives," Pattison said. "The next time they go to the doctor, they may go in and see a stethoscope, and they will say, 'I did that with my teddy bear.'"
