HUGGABLE GIFTS
Hospital welcomes donation of 40 teddy bears from jewelry-store customers
Jen Burton-liang, Child Life Specialist At Windsor Regional Hospital Met Campus, Hugs The Soft Teddy Bears Donated By The Peoples Jewellers Give Back To Children Campaign On Wednesday For The Hospital’s Paediatric Child Life Services.
About 40 local children who find themselves being treated at Windsor Regional Hospital over the next few months will receive some furry comfort thanks to customers of the two local Peoples Jewellers stores. On Wednesday, Tecumseh Mall and Devonshire Mall store manager Krystal Deschamps and assistant manager Fatima Mehdi donated 40 blue and grey bears to Windsor Regional Hospital’s Paediatric Child Life Services.
“We always greatly appreciate receiving new stuffed animals. We do frequently hand them out to kids at the hospital, especially those who might forget to bring a comfort item to the hospital,” said Jen BurtonLiang, the Metropolitan Campus’s child life specialist.
“They might come for surgery, they might come through the emergency department — or just to have something new and special and cuddly for them.
“We do hand them out a lot, so getting donations like this really keeps our supply up.”
The Peoples Jewellers Teddy Bear Project allows the company’s customers across the country to purchase the specially-designed bear and donate it to a hospital in their community. Burton-Liang said the hospital gives out hundreds of teddy bears and other stuffed animals to children annually, including patients in the pediatric unit, diagnostic imaging and the emergency room. She said the Peoples bears were exceptional.
“Those are really nice teddy bears, they’re really cuddly and very soft, and I think it brings a lot of comfort to kids that are hospitalized,” Burton-Liang said.
If the hospital does happen to run out of donations, there are other ways to fill the gap.
“The donations we get at Christmas usually last us several months,” Burton-Liang said. “Usually by the summer we’re looking again to get some donations to come in.”
The hospital accepts stuffed animal donations from those as small as Beanie Babies to massive carnival-sized furry friends. “Even the bigger ones, sometimes we have some that are huge and if the kid is having particularly difficult admission, we might surprise them with a really huge stuffed animal,” Burton-Liang said. “Windsor’s a very generous community.” Burton-Liang said when they do run out of toys there are other agencies they can turn to. “Basically our entire Child Life program is funded through donations and different charitable organizations like Transition to Betterness, In Honour of the Ones We Love and We Care for Kids,” Burton-Liang said.
“Our foundation is great, if we’re in need they always come through.”