Leo Wolf may only be eight and a half years old, but when it comes to his plushy hospital, he’s just like any other surgeon: precise, patient, and passionate.
The idea for the clinic started when Leo went to his mother, Karina Wolf-Anichkina, with a toy that needed surgery.
She explains, “It was actually a dog squeaky toy and I was like... let’s do an operation, we’ll remove it, and he liked the idea.”
It has since become a stuffed animal hospital, and the operating room is in their home.
“I figured we could post it on Facebook and do it for them. He has fun playing that game, and they will have a fixed plushy. So we all win.”
They have put a call out on social media that they are accepting new patients, and the procedures are free.
"We have a monkey coming in that’s missing a nose, and they don’t know how to put back it’s nose."
The whole process is by the book.
“I even prepared forms, admission forms, and a release form.”
Turns out, they’re onto something, says Madison Odabassian, third-year medical student at McGill.
Madison is also co-president of the university’s teddy bear hospital program, which is done in partnership with several schools in the Montreal area.
Madison says the children are learning through play.
“The students bring in their teddy bears, and they go through the circuit with their teddy bears, doing all the interventions on them, putting them in the X-ray machine, giving them vaccines, doing physiotherapy with them. So it’s very involved, cute and hands-on.”
A hands-on approach, which Madison says research suggests, helps to ease anxiety around medical appointments.
"It’s a way to sensitize them to things without it being overwhelming and it’s very tangible. And if they see their teddy bear going through these interventions, they’re able to rationalize it."
It’s that sense of comfort that Karina and Leo want to offer others who may have a toy that needs medical assistance.
Karina says she’s thrilled her son is enjoying it, “I’m encouraging him...whatever he’s interested in.”
Leo already has an idea of what he’s like to be when he grows up, “Basically a scientist. Maybe work in the university.”
Madison is impressed with the boy’s enthusiasm, saying, “Leo is inspiring our teddy bear hospital.”
