Bear With Me: A calming voice, a soft touch during emergency situations

It may seem like a small thing, and it is, in fact, a small thing, a toy teddy bear, but when a child or a parent has to leave Valley View and be moved to another hospital, having the sound of a loved one’s voice close by, is really a big thing.

This was the thinking behind the Bear With Me program at Valley View. It started seven years ago when Watts Brooks, the son of Dr. Ellen Brooks and Dr. David Brooks, envisioned the program.

“When Watts was 13 he was bar mitzvah-ed, and with any bar mitzvah, he needed a community service project,” says Dr. Ellen Brooks. “He was interested in aviation and so he wanted to do something related to that. He spent a lot of time at the hospital and would watch the helicopter take off.”

Knowing how many children were often flown to Denver and other locations without their parents for comfort, Watts created this program of providing teddy bears with the ability to record a family member’s voice that was then given to the child during what was a frightening time.

“The idea is to have a comforting voice with an infant, a child or even with an adult who needs the support," says Dr. Brooks.

While the program began with Pediatric Partners patients, it has expanded though the hospital’s various departments. Case managers have access to the bears and can offer them to any patient encountering a medical flight and are deemed in need of a soothing message.

Hundreds of Bear With Me bears have been tucked into the arm, blanket or crib of patients since 2014, and while it’s a small token of love, it means a lot to the patient and their families. The purchase of these bears is funded through private donations via the Valley View Foundation.

“Parents often feel helpless when they are being separated from a child,” says Dr. Brooks. “In some ways this program is as much for the parent as it is for the child. It gives parents something they can do, and in part distracts them from the weight of what’s going on.”

Make a gift today to support Bear with Me by clicking here (Pediatrics Care (neoncrm.com). Add “Bear with Me” as a note with your gift. Thank you for your generous support of this remarkable project.