LA HABRA : ‘Stuffee’ Is Just Packed With Facts

Dr. Pennie tugged on the patient’s small intestine and pulled it out as 20 fascinated second-grade students looked on. Every hand went up when she asked for volunteers to hold each end of the 20-foot-long intestine and stretch it across the room.

After everyone agreed that the intestine looked healthy, Dr. Pennie’s assistants dropped it in a pile that included a heart, lungs and other assorted organs.

The hands-on lesson in human anatomy took place Thursday at the Children’s Museum at La Habra. The patient was a 5-foot stuffed doll named Stuffee, which unzipped to reveal oversize, removable, soft-sculpture organs.

“Dr. Pennie” was actually Pennie Troxel, a health educator with FHP, which sponsored the program that brought Stuffee to the museum.

“Stuffee is a special name for a special guy,” Troxel told the students from Beswick Elementary School in Tustin. “We can pull this zipper down and see his internal organs.”

As Troxel pulled out the organs, starting with the heart, she explained their roles. The students were clearly enthralled by the display, turning their noses up only when Troxel pulled out Stuffee’s liver.

As part of its Health Awareness Lessons (HAL) program, FHP and the museum created the doll as a visual aid for children learning about their bodies. The doll will be a permanent part of the museum’s trunk exhibit and will travel to schools throughout the county.

FHP, a health maintenance organization based in Fountain Valley, started HAL to combat what it says is a shortage of health education in elementary schools. Saying that an “alarming number of youngsters (are) overweight and unfit,” FHP hopes that the program will help schools increase health awareness.

The doll shows students that their bodies are more than just what they see on the outside. This awareness will encourage the students to take care of themselves, Troxel said.

“Stuffee will provide hands-on experiences for students and will increase their interest for learning about their bodies,” Troxel said. “The mental picture (of the various organs) will be there, and they are going to key on these words during their lessons.”

The students’ teacher, Barbara Burch, agreed that taking the soft sculpture organs out of the doll’s zippered compartment and holding them is a valuable learning experience.

Cassandra Cushing, 7, summed up Stuffee as “neat.” She was impressed by the doll’s heart but wasn’t convinced that she had a small intestine.

“I don’t think it would fit inside me,” she said.

Michael Parker, 8, wasn’t sure either, noting that the organ, when stretched out, was rather large.

“It’s bigger than I am,” Michael said. “That one should be called the large intestine.”