Where plushy pals go to get well (and kids go to learn)

Southern Nevada obviously is experiencing a terrible epidemic of PCD, or Plushy Companion Disease.

Why else would there have been that bizarre influx of stuffed bears, beavers, ponies, turtles and what looked to be some sort of furry alien that Summerlin Hospital Medical Center experienced on a recent Friday morning?

Luckily, the plushy patients’ young owners got their sick stuffies to the hospital’s Teddy Bear Clinic just in time, and not only did every patient recover, but each left the hospital with a new sibling.

Besides being the best field trip ever, Summerlin Hospital’s Teddy Bear Clinic is designed to educate kindergarten and first-grade students about what happens in a hospital. By taking their stuffed buddies to booths staffed by professionals from various hospital departments and participating in interactive activities, kids learn about the procedures — from temperature-taking to oxygen mask-breathing — they, or someone they love, will undergo at the hospital.

Nicole Pinks, Summerlin Hospital’s community outreach liaison, says the hospital has been offering the Teddy Bear Clinic to valley schoolchildren for more than 10 years, and that about 350 elementary school students participated in this year’s event. The hope is that the program helps children feel less afraid of what can be an overwhelmingly intimidating place even to adults, Pinks notes.

“We want them to know what it is that we do here, and that we’re here to help,” she adds.

This year’s session started with a close-up view of an American Medical Response ambulance and a Las Vegas Fire & Rescue firetruck. The enthralled kids looked on, stuffed animals in hand, and enthusiastically took their turns walking through the ambulance. And when fire engineer Norman Simpson asks if the kids might like to board the truck, the group moves toward the truck like a caffeinated amoeba.

Simpson says later that fire department crews offer demonstrations throughout the year at hospitals, schools and other locations and, invariably, “kids absolutely love it.”

“I think the purpose today is — and I hate to use the word — desensitize them to the fear of seeing lights and sirens and people in masks or turnouts — fire protection equipment — so they’re not afraid. We hope they won’t be scared when they see us.”

What do kids love most? “To be honest with you, the saws,” Simpson answers. “They love those saws.”

Which the kids even get to touch, although one child has higher aspirations.

“No, we can’t go on the ladder,” Heather Musni, the students’ kindergarten teacher at Bonner Elementary School, tells him. “It’s pretty cool, though.”

The students then get ready to enter the hospital for the actual clinic, and Bonner student Luke Chang, 5, is so, so ready.

“I love hospitals,” the smiling kindergartner offers to nobody in particular.

The students work off some excess energy by doing energetic stretches with Jessica Peralta, owner of FIT4MOM Las Vegas, before entering the clinic. There, they take their plush pets to a series of stations staffed by the hospital’s nurses and staff members. As the health professionals treat their plushy pals, they’re seeing how routine procedures are done and learn about a few health care basics.

Their — and their animals’ — temperature is taken. They give their animals a mock shot. They look at real X-rays. At the surgical care station, surgical tech Damian Etheredge prepares the kids’ animals for surgery, outfitting each with a hairnet, a mask and oxygen mask. One girl is reluctant to take Etheredge up on his offer to try on the oxygen mask herself, but gives it a try anyway. She seems surprised that there really was nothing to it.

Teacher Musni — this is her third Teddy Bear Clinic — says hospital staff members are “really good at explaining what happens in every department.”

Back in the classroom, the students will write a sentence or two about the experience in their journals. Musni says students often write that “they’re not as fearful of the hospital, and it almost seems like an adventure.”

And, Musni says, “some will write, ‘I met a nice nurse.’ ”

Holly Sanders — who’s here with her son, Miles, 5 — says this marks her third visit to Teddy Bear Clinic, after already having taken the field trip with Miles’ older siblings.

“I’m a nurse, and like for them to see the environment I work in,” Sanders says, and to learn about “how our bodies work and how we take care of them.”

The family consensus is that Teddy Bear Clinic also is a great field trip. When Sanders’ older children “found out their little brother is going, they’re, like, ‘I loved that field trip! It was so fun!’ ” she says.

Albert Chang says his son Luke seems to be interested in the hospital and the things doctors do anyway. So, it wasn’t surprising that Luke says that he enjoyed the event and liked watching the medical professionals do their work.

In fact, Luke says, “I wish I could be one of them.”

It’s probably a good thing that Luke likes visiting the hospital. He’s going to have a new little brother or sister soon, dad Albert says, so “we’ll be back here in a couple of weeks.”

And, if Teddy Bear Clinic worked its magic, he, and his classmates, now will feel more comfortable about visiting the hospital.

Students “love the interaction with the departments,” Pinks says, and “love knowing what goes on and feeling confidence about it.

“When they leave, they feel confident and know that this is a pretty cool place and it’s not so bad. And next time they come to the hospital, say, ‘I know what’s going on. I know about this department and that department.’ ”

Also, Pinks says, “it’s a fun event. Our staff loves it.”

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280, or follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.