Children undergoing day surgery at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre will soon be greeted with a goofy Minion grin for an added sense of comfort.
A total of 207 Minion stuffed toys have been donated by Erick Holstein, Galaxy Cinema Red Deer general manager.
The Despicable Me movie characters will be added to the collection of huggable stuffed toys at the day surgery unit’s front desk, and children get to choose one when they arrive for treatment.
“Any child who comes through for either surgery or procedure gets to pick a toy. Quite often, they’ll take them to the operating room with them, and the recovery room, and then they take them home at the end of their stay with us,” said Debby Gormley, day surgery charge nurse, on Tuesday.
Stuffed toys often receive their own surgery cap and come out after the procedure is complete with a Band-Aid on the same spot as the child had surgery.
“I’ve seen them come back with bandages on them,” said the nurse.
Gormley said stuffed toys were given out even before she started on the unit 14 years ago. Often, children arrive with their own toy or blanket, but the department still likes to have something on hand.
Stuffed toys are also made available to developmentally disabled adults.
Gormley said a few children who received toys during their stay have gone on to fundraise to donate toys to the unit.
Red Deer Regional Hospital Foundation collects donated stuffed toys on behalf of day surgery, pediatrics and neonatal intensive care units. But day surgery goes through the most toys.
Travis Kuschminder, marketing and communications manager with the foundation, said every now and then, the foundation will put out the call for toys when stock gets low.
The Minions were Holstein’s second toy donation in recent years.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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