Teddy Bear Clinic : Schoolchildren, many with toys in need of suturing, get a friendly, up-close look at a Canoga Park emergency room.

It was a scene of mock medical mayhem in the emergency rooms of West Valley Hospital & Health Center last Friday.

The rooms were filled with hundreds of victims with injuries almost too gruesome to detail.

Victims with arms, legs and even eyes dangling.

Victims with horrible rips on their bodies.

Victims who had almost had the stuffing beat out of them.

All were brought to the hospital in Canoga Park by concerned caretakers.

The occasion was the hospital’s sixth annual Teddy Bear Clinic, which familiarizes schoolchildren with the operations of an emergency room.

About 600 Valley youngsters from local schools--many of them carrying a stuffed animal or doll in dire need of repair--attended with their teachers.

As the youngsters looked on, medical staff members examined each toy, explained what they were doing, and told how the procedure would differ if the patient were a real child.

The children, who spent about an hour at the hospital, seemed fascinated.

Balloons and entertainment lent a carnival atmosphere. A lab technician in a giant teddy bear costume roved about the corridors, amusing youngsters waiting to go to the next stop on the tour.

But for Arthur Ishoo, 7, a second-grader at Nevada Avenue Elementary School in Canoga Park, there was definitely a serious aspect to this otherwise cheery outing.

His stuffed elephant, Chuckie, had a broken nose and broken arm, and appeared about to expire.

Dr. John Palmer mended Chuckie’s nose and put a cast on Chuckie’s arm as Arthur and his classmates watched carefully.

The doctor told Arthur it might be a while before Chuckie was feeling completely himself again.

Mason Sarto, 5, a kindergarten student at Lockhurst Drive elementary school in Woodland Hills, also had a medical emergency.

Mason’s teddy bear, named Bear, had such a serious neck injury that he was facing decapitation.

Mason, with some reluctance, handed Bear to Lee Erlick, who is a full-time hospital phlebotomist and part-time teddy bear surgeon.

Erlick told Mason:

“This bear is in serious trouble. We need to get him sutured immediately.”

Mason looked at Bear and slowly nodded in assent.

Erlick, working at an emergency room table, sewed up Bear as Mason and his classmates observed the procedure.

When the operation was over, Erlick declared Bear completely healed.

“I wish it was always that easy,” Palmer said.

“And as much fun,” agreed Mike Morris, a registered nurse.

But hopefully, not quite this busy.

The victims and the students just kept coming and coming. Toward the end of the day, there were so many patients it was almost unbearable.

Damaged dolls of all types.

Nearly snuffed stuffed snakes, frogs, pigs and alligators.

Also teddy, Paddington and Christmas bears that were barely alive.

After their emergency room adventure, the visiting youngsters got balloons and heard a short talk by Los Angeles police officers and firefighters. Then they boarded buses to return to class.

Sue Hemenway, a teacher who had brought her second-graders from Nevada Avenue Elementary School, said the outing serves its purpose well. “The idea is that allowing children to come to the hospital in a non-threatening situation will ease their concern if they are ever a patient.”

That has happened more than once when ailing children are brought to the emergency room, said Nancy LaSota, hospital director of education and community relations.

“Many times in the last few years we’ve had youngsters say they know what is going on because they came to a Teddy Bear Clinic,” she said. “We think this is a real community service.

“And the doctors and other medical staff really love doing it,” LaSota added.