“Trauma Teddy” offers young victims a sense of security during emergencies
DEPARTMENTS
Dispatches
After an October house fire took the life of a young child, a Salina, Kan., paramedic sat down with the two preschool survivors.
To encourage the children to talk, a stuffed toy bear named Trauma Teddy joined the conversation, and the painful truth was revealed: They had been playing with matches.
The Salina Fire Department and many other fire and ambulance companies throughout the country have learned the value of packing along a teddy bear or two. Trauma Teddy consoles, quiets, and cheers the young fire or accident victim, which often helps the rescuer do his job. And whether to comfort or question, each toy finds a new home with the child.
“More than anything else, Trauma Teddy helps relieve anxiety and trauma childen experience during an emergency,” says Salina Fire Chief Dave Robertson. “It’s a security blanket.”
A typical exchange between a child and an emergency worker with a Trauma Teddy might go like this:
“Show me where this bear hurts.”
“The bear has a sore arm.”
“Do you have a sore arm?”
“Yes, mv arm hurts, too.”
Trauma Teddy may help a child deal with anger as well as fear at an accident or fire scene.
“We’ve been told [by psychiatrists] that some might pull the bear’s eyes or arms out, but not to worry,” says Sedgwick County (Kan.) Fire Chief Gary Nichols. “They’re taking out their aggression on the bear.”
Robertson says it’s not enough to have a supply of bears on hand; firefighters must be trained in working with young victims. In Kansas, this comes at certified schools.
“We’re pretty well tuned into working with children,” says Robertson. “It isn’t like someone off the street taking the bears and playing dolls.”
Because many fire departments can’t afford to buy large quantities of the toys themselves, local businesses often offer to bear most of the cost.
In Kansas, several Southwestern Bell Community Relations Teams have partnered with ambulance companies and fire departments to raise money to pay for the teddies.
Correction: In the October article “Wildfire’s Elite,” some of the photo credits were inadvertently reversed. The photo of firefighters marching into a tunnel against the background of a mountain on fire was taken by Bruce Turbeville of the California Department of Forestry. The photo of firefighters working on a ridge, which appeared silhouetted in the article, was taken bv Jack Bennett.
