Medical students help sick cuddly toys
Children aged between 3 and 8 will again have the opportunity this year to have their cuddly toys examined and treated by teddy doctors in the Teddy Bear Hospital in Erlangen’s Schlossgarten. The teddy doctors are volunteers and played by around 30 students of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and medical engineering at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). In addition, the hospital has a dentist’s office, a lab and an ambulance that children can visit. The initiative is not only beneficial for the little visitors, but also provides students with a valuable opportunity to practice dealing with anxious patients, for example.
The Teddy Bear Hospital is open on Monday and Tuesday, May 11 and 12 from 9 am to 5 pm, as well as on Wednesday May 13, from 9 am to 3 pm for children and their cuddly toys.
There are now 40 locations in Germany where Teddy Bear Hospitals are run. In 2025, Erlangen received the Volunteers’ Award of the Alumni Association for its important social work. The aim of the initiative is to reduce children’s fear of visits to the doctor or hospital stays with the help of their cuddly toys.
Further information:
Erlangen Teddy Bear Hospital team:
pr.tbk.erlangen@gmail.com