Over 600 University of Melbourne students in areas ranging from medicine to nursing, physiotherapy, social work and dentistry volunteered at Chadstone on Saturday and Sunday.
About 2000 children, aged from two to 10, and their parents and guardians, attended.
Please look after this bear: Felix Strong, 2, with his toy koala Koolala at the entrance to the Teddy Bear Hospital at Chadstone Shopping Centre.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Melissa Teather and husband Andrew brought their four children — Aston, 6, and Louis, 2, presented their teddies, and older siblings Giselle, 8, and Remy, 10, came to support them.
Melissa said it was a lot of fun for the kids but also educational.
She said her toddler, Louis, who brought his teddy, Ceepa, was scared when he first walked into the “hospital”.
“I think it was the fear of the unknown, but now he’s loving it,” Melissa said.
Peter and Christine Garcia, of Camberwell brought daughter Beatrix Elisse, 2, and her pink teddy bear Beatrice, who had a tummy ache.
Felix Strong, 2, helps a student doctor weigh Koolala the toy koala.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
A student doctor did a check-up on Beatrice, gave her some “medicine” and reassured the toddler her teddy would be OK.
Peter said when Beatrix Elisse had been sick in the past, she had feared doctors “because they prod and poke her” but this was a nicer environment.
Christina Cox, of Ascot Vale, said her son Felix, 2, was nervous when she suggested bringing his toy koala, Koolala.
“He was wondering whether there was something wrong with Koolala; if he needed to go to hospital.”
Koolala the toy koala gets measured by a medical student.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Christina assured Felix “it’s just a check-up. It’s fine”.
Paul Monagle, a University of Melbourne paediatrics professor who was a supervising academic at the Teddy Bear Hospital, said students had organised everything from the activities to ticketing and rosters.
He said: “At every level, this is a winning activity.”
As well as being a fundraiser, it worked “as a mechanism for students to improve their communication skills, and as a mechanism for children to interact with hospital staff and make-believe doctors in a non-threatening way, to try and reduce their fear and anxiety”.
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