A picnic for teddy bears as they head for hospital

WINNIE-THE-Pooh may feel he is a bear of “little brain”, but that doesn’t stop him suspecting the intentions of a white-coated medical student.

More than 150 such students are running a teddy bear clinic at NUI Galway today in an attempt to assuage any fears that bears, or their owners, might have about the state of the health service and what it is like going to hospital.

Almost 1,000 children from 24 primary schools are expected to visit the two-day clinic, which opened yesterday in the university’s sports hall.

The event was initiated four years ago by the Sláinte Society, NUI Galway’s branch of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations.

“People are usually scared of the unknown, and hospitals are places that children in particular don’t know a lot about,” NUIG fifth-year medical student Donna Cummins, who is event organiser, explains.

“By bandaging Teddy’s arm, X-raying his leg or taking a Teddy MRI, we can illustrate to children what doctors and nurses in hospitals do.”

Feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive”, said Ms Cummins.