Freemasons in Cumbria have delivered 70 teddies to help comfort families with children in hospital.
On May 1, Cumbria Freemasons delivered the teddies to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle to be used to help comfort families with young children.
A hospital visit can be a frightening experience for a young child, especially in an emergency situation. Teddies for Loving Care (TLC) is a way of providing much-needed comfort to children in A&E departments, helping to reduce the shock and distress of their experience.
Every child that receives a teddy gets to take it home. TLC is locally managed by Cumbria Freemasons who also volunteer their time to run the scheme. Since its inception in 2001, over 3.5 million teddies have been distributed to hospitals throughout England and Wales.
Vicky Morgan, a nurse at the Carlisle hospital, started making bereavement memory boxes, and the teddies will be added to these to help comfort families. The items in the boxes include – knitted hearts, flower seeds, a heart plaque with a remembrance poem on it, a pocket heart and robin, handprints and glass vials for ECG tracing and locks of hair.
The boxes also allow the families to add their own memories, such as photos and other keepsakes. The idea of the boxes is to provide some comfort to families who are going through a difficult and emotional time.
The teddy bears are given to patients who have younger children and one teddy will stay with the patient whilst the other is given to the children or family. This then helps relieve any stress and worry for the children and lets them have a connection with their teddy both at home and in hospital.
They have been using these boxes for a month now and so far have had positive feedback from families.
Nurse Vicky Morgan said: “The families will cherish these boxes and teddies so thank you so much to Cumbria Freemasons for these TLC teddy bears.”
