Chester Freeman was identified with bladder most cancers and most not too long ago with continual lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Learn Chester’s blogs right here!
I’m a former hospital chaplain, having labored at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, and Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut.
As I used to be making my rounds at Hartford Hospital one afternoon, I ended on the nursing station to ask if there have been any sufferers I ought to make a particular effort to see. All of the nurses mentioned there was one affected person with whom they have been all having issues. I requested for her room quantity and instantly went to see her.
I launched myself because the Protestant hospital chaplain and informed her I used to be there to function her advocate. I observed that her palms have been gripping her sheets very tightly round her neck, so I requested if she was okay. The longer we talked, the extra comfy she started to really feel with me. Then she step by step lowered her palms and revealed a teddy bear below the covers. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and he or she mentioned, “I’m 60 years outdated, and I assumed the docs and nurses would make enjoyable of me for utilizing a teddy bear for assist.”
On that day, I didn’t have a teddy bear with me. As an alternative, I reached out to carry her hand. I assured her that nobody on the hospital workers would belittle her for having a teddy bear. She was so relieved, and I might see the change in her face. The strain left her brow, and a smile appeared on her face. Then I informed her I usually carried a teddy bear with me, and he or she appeared much more content material as a result of she realized that I additionally valued teddy bears.
I informed her it was okay to be an grownup who carried a teddy bear and that there was no want for her to really feel any disgrace. Then we had a heart-to-heart dialogue, and that dialog modified her entire demeanor.
Afterwards, after I went to speak with the workers on the nursing station, they have been so happy I might get by means of to her since none of them have been in a position to take action. From that point on, she was among the finest sufferers on the ground. Everybody adored her teddy bear, and a few even talked to him. After befriending this affected person, the nursing workers nicknamed me “the teddy bear man.”
This is only one instance of my many experiences with adults and teddy bears. There are lots of extra tales to inform.
In my work as a chaplain, I used to be the one that comforted the most cancers sufferers. I usually sat within the ready room with somebody who was ready for his or her radiation remedies to start. I held a hand when somebody was getting ready to obtain their chemotherapy remedy. When concern consumed a person about their prognosis, I supplied a listening ear so they might categorical their fears. I might usually lend my shoulder for a affected person to cry on when issues fell aside. I used to be there for the most cancers sufferers and served as an advocate, working with the workers social employees of the hospitals. I additionally carried a instrument which was fairly uncommon presently within the Eighties.
That instrument was a teddy bear.
An article appeared within the Hartford Courant on July 26, 1984, written by Rosemary Keogh. The title was, “Simply the Bear Information: A Cuddly Child’s Toy Tames Grownup Rigidity.” The writer interviewed me for this text, and I gave her examples of after I used teddy bears to counsel adults in addition to kids. I described that after I recommended sufferers, a teddy bear might cut back nervousness, particularly for sufferers going by means of traumatic hospital experiences.
Just a few years later, I printed an article known as, “The Energy of the Teddy Bear,” within the January/February 2000 difficulty of the main teddy bear collectible journal of the Eighties, known as Teddy Bear and Buddies. Within the article, I requested the query: Why is the teddy bear so particular? What’s the energy of this stuffed animal? My reply was quite simple: The teddy bear isn’t just a toy. It’s an instrument of affection. Its operate is to consolation. Its power is within the energy of contact. Its energy is really mystical.
There’s no query that the teddy bear is a non secular image as properly. By means of its common enchantment, it breaks by means of language limitations and cultural variations to deliver folks collectively. The teddy bear’s affect spans all ages, sexes and races. Everybody can profit from proudly owning one. In my work as a chaplain, I’ve seen the unimaginable energy of the teddy bear to assist adults in addition to kids.
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