Super Saturday with The Teddy Bear Hospital!

We’ve had an incredible and very busy day welcoming hundreds of children, families and teddy bears through the doors of our special mini hospital experience – thank you to everyone who visited us at Sheffield Children’s, and at Firth Hall this Super Saturday!

Children have been busy dressing up, learning more about what happens during blood tests, visiting other worlds through virtual reality (VR) headsets, meeting our plaster team and getting to mend their teddy’s broken bones, wrapping bandages around paws, lying amongst sensory lights, and even putting teddies in our MRI scanner!

The special ‘pawscription’ leaflets helped guide the day with children ticking off all sorts of different activities and experiences at Sheffield Children’s and at Firth Hall. Each activity had a special stamp to collect once they were completed and at the end of the event each child was given a bag to take home filled with fruit, cress seeds, a toy and lots of helpful information relating to their experiences today.

Edd Crawley, Service Improvement Manager and lead organiser for Super Saturday said: “Children and families usually only visit us at Sheffield Children’s when they’re coming for planned treatment or emergency care. We have loved offering this unique experience where children and families have been able to come and see what the hospital is like and meet lots of the people who work here and provide care when it’s needed.

“We’ve also had a team based at Pitsmoor Adventure Playground who have spent the day sharing lots of activities in the sunshine with local children and young people. Super Saturday events provide us with the chance to do things differently and this has been a really special day all round.”

Keerthana, University of Sheffield medical student and Teddy Bear Hospital volunteer said: “Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to work together. It has been a rewarding day for us all and moves us one step closer to helping reduce children’s anxieties around medical experiences.”

We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone in the Teddy Bear Hospital team at the University of Sheffield, and all the people at Sheffield Children’s who have organised and hosted a brilliant event.