A DOCTOR?S OFFICE CAN BE A SCARY PLACE FOR CHILDREN.
A STRANGER IN A WHITE COAT POKES AND PRODS?.KIDS DON?T USUALLY UNDERSTAND WHY.
AND THEN THERE?S THE DREADED SHOT.
ONE LOCAL EVENT HELD LAST WEEK TRIED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT KIDS FEARS OF DOCTORS.
AS NHPR CORRESPONDENT MONICA GUZMAN REPORTS, THE PORTSMOUTH CHILDREN?S MUSEUM?S ANNUAL TEDDY BEAR CLINIC LETS CHILDREN EXPERIENCE THE MEDICAL PROCESS??. NOT AS PATIENTS, BUT AS PARENTS.
:20 What?s the matter with Theodore today? Does he have the flu??
?No.?
?Does he have a sore arm??
?Yes.?
?Really? Which arm is it? Show me??
5-year-old Meg Cohen is talking with clinic volunteer Mickey Allen about a sick friend?a big brown teddy bear named Theodore. His right arm?s been bothering him for over a week now. Meg brought him to the Portsmouth Children?s Museum?s Teddy Bear Clinic for an annual check-up. Started more than 12 years ago, the clinic attracts dozens of local families from all over the state. Doug Bennington has brought his kids the past three years.
:21 ?We came over from Dover and the kids were talking about what was gonna be wrong with the bear, and we had an assortment of ailments, from a broken leg to a twisted ankle, to laryngitis, because we have a bear that doesn?t talk anymore cause there?s no batteries. And then of course when we got here they picked something completely different than what we had spent the last half hour talking about on the way here.?
Whether they have some medical problem already in mind?
:11 Disease Medley
Or they?re just toying with an idea?
:09 ?His leg was right there and?whatchou doin! And phhht phhht phhhht.?
Kids have a great time taking their bears through the clinic. Organizers set up the clinic in a noisy corner of the museum?s second floor. There?s just enough room for a small reception table, a few tiny chairs in a waiting area, one long table for the nurses? station, and another for the teddy bear surgeon. The nurses perform the regular check-up procedures?from weighing and measuring the bears to checking their eyes, ear, and fur. The surgeon handles the serious stuff; she patches up holes, applies band-aids and distributes prescriptions ranging from eating jelly beans to watching movies. Once their bear is all better, the kids get a certificate of good health, and are free to enjoy the museum?s other exhibits. But whether they know it or not (and it might be better that they don?t), these kids are actually participating in something educational. David Allen is the museum?s development director.
:18 ?Well, when I first started working here at the museum I thought it was a great fun event and what a great idea, and then I realized that it really helps kids because a lot of times they have anxieties and worries about going to the doctor, but this program helps them get over those problems and makes them realize there?s nothing to fear and it can actually be a lot of fun.?
Portsmouth Regional Hospital co-sponsors the clinic. It sends two of its staff to act as teddy ?nurses.? Karen Wells, from Seacoast Family Practice, is one of this year?s volunteers.
:20 ?I think it?s wonderful. A great way to get the kids more accustomed to being with the doctor so they get to look at it as a more positive thing?.You don?t want them to have a feeling of being afraid when they go to the doctor. You want them to look at the whole medical staff as a positive thing and a place to go when they?re hurting to feel better.
To most adults, this seems quite obvious. Of course doctors are there to help. But for young kids, like this little girl, a doctor?s good intentions are not always so clear.
:06 ?Do you like the doctor? Is your doctor nice??
?No.?
?He?s mean? Is he mean??
?Yeah.?
Dr. Walter Harmon of Lilac City Pediatrics in Rochester, says this fear is to be expected, even from a very early age.
:17 ?A one-year-old starts to get a pretty good idea of how you interact with strangers. You meet them in a grocery store, or your mother talks to them, hands them money, or whatever, and that?s totally different from what happens in the doctor?s office where they get you naked and poke you all over. So it?s certainly understandable from that aspect that they?re gonna be frightened of you.?
Certainly a bothersome tap on the knee won?t strike fear in the hearts of children. But there?s a notorious kind of ?poke? that will. And that?s the shot. Dr. Anne Boedecker is a developmental psychologist in Concord.
:05 ?Most kids have gone through shots. They?ve gone to the doctor?s and associated it with pain.?
This kind of association can make even a vaccination-free checkup difficult for a small child.
:09 ?He gets very quiet. He just sits there, doesn?t say a thing. Crosses his arms, crosses his legs, and he won?t cooperate with you at all?.He?s still in the shot stages.?
Doug Bennington is talking about his four-year-old son Andrew, who has just completed his run through the clinic. Andrew is still afraid of the doctor, but his Dad thinks his experience here will help him conquer that fear.
:10 ?This helps because it gets him comfortable talking to someone about what?s wrong with the bear, seeing him take blood pressure?so he knows what to expect when he goes.?
But it?s not just about knowing what to expect?it?s also about seeing a loved one get better. As Dr. Boedecker explains, many kids see their teddy bears as their own children.
:11 ?They do identify with their teddy bears?the teddy bears are like a part of them. And their teddy bear is usually quite real to them, so they do adopt a parental role.?
And as caretakers in their own right, kids feel like they have a certain amount of control over the well-being of their bears. Three-year-old Brian Murphy even dared to challenge volunteer Susan Savory?s prescription for his beloved little stuffed dog, Togo.
:20 ?You can take that band-aid off tomorrow, and you need to read him a bedtime story tonight.?
?Yeah, if he don?t want to read, if he say, No! No! I don?t want to read the story! If he says no.?
?If he says no, it?s okay, but I think he?d love to hear one.?
At the Teddy Bear Clinic, the doctors talk one-on-one with the kids, not their parents. They step into the kids? world, bridging the gap that keeps them apart. Meanwhile, the children grow a little bit to begin to understand that doctors usually care about their patients?flesh or fur.
After receiving instructions from the doctor, Meg takes Theodore, now sporting a band-aid on his right arm, out of the clinic.
:20 ?Meg, how?s the bear gonna get better??
?Have a popsicle.?
?What about frisbee? What does he have to do with the frisbee??
On doctor?s orders, Theodore must stop playing frisbee till Friday if his sore arm is to improve. Now Meg has to keep her furry friend healthy until next August, when he can see the doctor again.
For NHPR News, I?m Mó®©£a Guzmá®®
