Teddy Bear Clinic: Easing a Child’s Fear

The little boy was redheaded and wearing a green-striped T-shirt and green shorts. Officer McGruff, a Pasadena police officer wearing his official bloodhound costume and belted trench coat, had just finished singing a song called, “It’s an Emergency,” to enthusiastic applause. The little boy ran to McGruff, who leaned down on a level with his new friend. And the redheaded kid kissed the officer right on his shiny black nose.

McGruff is the official crime prevention symbol created by the same people who developed Smokey the Bear. The National Ad Council and the National Coalition on Crime Prevention chose a bloodhound because it has a long history of catching criminals and put him in a trench coat because that has become the unofficial uniform for private investigators.

Pasadena Police Agent Richard Sandoval, Officer Lou Gallo and Officer Alex Uribe were the McGruff team I met at the Huntington Memorial Hospital’s two-day Teddy Bear Clinic. Although the animal of the day was the teddy bear, there were Easter lambs, Cabbage Patch Dolls and kittens, and one individualist, about 4 years old, pulled a smiling green dragon.

The Teddy Bear Clinic attracted more than 1,000 children on both Monday and Tuesday, escorting their toys through the Huntington’s brand new Pediatric Center, a 28-bed facility decorated in jellybean colors.

The Teddy Bear Clinic was part of National Children and Hospitals Week and was planned to ease the fears of children who might some day find themselves in the hospital.

A little girl going through the new pediatric center looked at the pictures hanging on the walls and said, “I like this place.”

The pictures were the works of patients and of children at Jackson Elementary School. The art leaned to bears and rainbows.

The children arrived in school buses and were led by teachers and mothers. Each child took his bear or favorite doll through the entire health-care course. First stop was to have the patient weighed and measured. This was done by Wendy Gordon, who anchors the Channel 9 (KHJ-TV) news and is a member of the San Marino Guild, one of Huntington’s support groups whose special interest is the pediatric section.

She solemnly checked each stuffed toy, wrote its name on the certificate and sent the child and patient to the next stop. The toys had their blood pressure taken, were given shots, had Band-Aids applied where too much affection from its owner had caused scuffs.

The Teddy Bear Clinic was staffed by licensed child development specialists, doctors and nurses, all Huntington staff members. Pediatrician Bob Gomez and registered nurse Lea Lim displayed the stethoscope. They explained to the wary that the instrument could hear their hearts, their breathing and their stomachs growling. But that the stethoscope cannot hear their thoughts, their feelings or desires.

The wallpaper in the intensive-care unit is puffy clouds and rainbows. In the halls the top of the wall is white and goes into bands of blue, green, yellow, peach, strawberry and lilac.

There are parents’ rooms with flowerpot wallpaper in pink and green and blue. There are couches that can be made into beds for parents who want to stay near their children. And in many rooms, a cupboard opens to show a rollaway bed for a parent who can stay right in the room with the patient.

Barbara Soriano, the head nurse of the new pediatric section, said that the guests had been pleased about their visit and delighted that their teddy bears and other friends had passed the check-up with flying colors.

The Teddy Bear Clinic was the idea of Mary Donnelly-Crocker, a child development specialist. After the guests had trooped through, they went into the auditorium, where juice and cookies were enjoyed all ‘round.

That’s when they met my friend McGruff, who talked about being careful and sang and did a bouncy dance routine. Inside the costume was Officer Lou Gallo. Members of the McGruff detail take turns wearing the costume, and there is a McGruff hand puppet the little kids can be photographed with. Gallo and Kevin Hall do a McGruff show every day in a Pasadena school. The team has been to 87 different schools, and McGruff does 13 safety songs.

They started the McGruff shows two years ago and the friendly pup took off like a rocket. “We go to the Hastings Ranch pancake breakfast every year and to the Plaza Pasadena,” Gallo said. “The adults like the show as well as kids.”

They will be at the Plaza Pasadena on April 11 and 12 all day long doing three shows.