phil&teds® provide bears to kids undergoing surgery

Children undergoing surgery in Hawke's Bay’s Royston Hospital were comforted this week with the arrival of 165 teddy bears. The phil&teddy bears are part of a joint venture between the Surgical Research Trust and award-winning juvenile products company, phil&teds.

Prior to an operation, kids are given a teddy bear to provide cuddles and comfort at a stressful time.

Surgeons and nurses can also use the bear as a prop when explaining procedures to children before they undergo their operation which makes the whole process more ‘bearable’. The phil&teddy is theirs to adopt, name and take home.

This is the first time the bears have been introduced to the Hawke’s Bay.

“We’re very grateful to phil&teds for their support of the Surgical Research Trust. The bears not only cheer up the child undergoing the surgery but also whanau and staff involved." said Grant Kiddle, Chair of The Surgical Research Trust.

“Regardless of where children are having surgery, they are always in need of something to help them get through the emotional stress of an operation.”

Denise Primrose, General Manager at Royston Hospital, says they are extremely grateful towards the Surgical Research Trust and phil&teds for this initiative.

“Royston Hospital is delighted to have this opportunity to provide comforting teddies to young patients.”

The programme has been in place for several years with bears distributed in hospitals in the wider Wellington region, Christchurch and the Waikato.

The Surgical Research Trust was established in 1992 by Wellington renowned orthopaedic surgeon, Professor Geoffrey Horne, to fund local and national surgical research.

The main aim of the Surgical Research Trust is to give researchers the opportunity to further medical and surgical knowledge by funding their chosen research projects.

More than 90 research projects have been funded since it was established, including research into areas such as paediatrics, diabetes, orthopaedics, as well as heart, renal and brain disease.