Medina hospital welcomes kindergartners with stuffed animals for Teddy Bear Clinic

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Stephanie Kruzynski, a Medina kindergarten teacher, brought her class to Medina Memorial Hospital today for the Teddy Bear Clinic where students bring in stuffed animals or dolls and go through different stations at the hospital.

Here, a student checks the temperature of a doll.

Medina had about 100 kindergarteners in the hospital today for the clinic. Today was the last Teddy Bear Clinic of the school year. Medina Memorial welcomed kids from Albion, Medina, Lyndonville and Barker this year, about 500 students in all.

Erica Chutko, manager of the X-Ray Department, shows students X-rays. She explained an X-Ray is a way to take a picture of the inside of a body. Getting an X-Ray doesn’t hurt, she told the students.

The Teddy Bear Clinic has been popular at the hospital since its return in 2015. Before that many school districts cut back on field trips and no schools visited the hospital about a decade before 2015.

Medina Memorial welcomes the students to help them feel more comfortable if they ever need to go the hospital. The kids can bring in toys and give those dolls and stuffed animals bandages, X-rays, Band-Aids and other care.

The kindergartners left their stuffed animals on the X-Ray table. Chutko showed students how that table goes up and down at the flip of a switch.

“Don’t you wish you had one of these in your bedroom?” she asked the kids.

Chutko told them adult humans typically have 206 bones in their bodies.

Kate Brauen, Doctor of Pharmacy and director of pharmacy at Orleans Community Health, talks about how medications can help people feel better who are sick or battling health issues.

Leah Brenner, a nurse practitioner, and Becka Schoolcraft (in back), the Medina Healthcare Center clinic manager, help students pretend to give shots and check the blood pressure of their stuffed animals.