Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 4:29 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
Feb. 7 - 8, 2004
The pediatrics unit at St. Rose Dominican Hospital Siena Campus admitted a patient this week unlike any other: a 6-foot doll named Stuffee.
The human-like doll, donated by PacifiCare, features a torso that can be unzipped to reveal 10 anatomically correct cloth organs. The pediatrics unit will use Stuffee to help kids understand their bodies, illnesses and procedures they will go through during their stay at the hospital, spokeswoman Mandy Abrams said.
Certified Child Life Specialist Mark Mostar has been put in charge of presenting Stuffee to children and explaining the organs inside the doll's torso.
Mostar said using Stuffee to explain procedures to children is a fun and visual way for them to understand what is going on.
"When kids are having a surgery, they don't understand what's happening," he said. "For example, if they are having a kidney removed, their imagination would run wild with that. Kids will invent this creative story about what is going to happen and get scared. They think if they have this kidney removed they won't be the same."
With Stuffee by his side, Mostar can now show children what is going to happen and explain that they will be the same after the operation.
"For that kid losing a kidney, we would let him or her unzip Stuffee and find the kidneys inside," he said. "We will let the kids be the doctors and they can take the kidney out themselves, and zip him back up. With that we can say 'See, Stuffee is still the same without his kidney' and they will understand."
Mostar said honesty and trust are important during an operation with children.
"It's important to be honest and explain to them what is going to happen and try to make them understand as best as possible," he said.
The pediatrics unit will also use Stuffee as a teaching lesson for local elementary schoolchildren, Abrams said.
Small classes will be invited to visit the hospital for a lesson taught by Mostar on the human body and health. As of now the idea is in the works, Abrams said.
Stuffee is no stranger to classroom lessons.
From 1994 until 2002 PacifiCare toured Stuffee through Clark County elementary school classrooms to teach students about the human body, according to Abrams.
PacifiCare decided to donate Stuffee to St. Rose Dominican Hospital to keep the education rolling.
"They thought it'd be a good fit bringing Stuffee to St. Rose, and we thought so too," Abrams said.
Stuffee arrived at St. Rose via ambulance Thursday, ready to begin his stay at his new home.
Henderson Fire Department emergency medical technicians who donated their time to the event arrived at PacifiCare at 9:15 a.m. Thursday to pick up Stuffee for delivery to St. Rose.
The EMTs administered CPR to Stuffee and rushed him to the Siena Campus Pediatrics Emergency Room, Abrams said.
He was then admitted to the pediatrics unit, complete with hospital pajamas, sewn by the Women's Care Center, and a giant identification bracelet.
A second grade class from Robert Taylor Elementary School was there to welcome Stuffee and learn a lesson on the human body, taught by Mostar and community health educator Michele Rivera.
"We showed the children three organs this morning, the heart, lungs and stomach," Mostar said. "We taught them about the organs and the different functions and then read them a book about different senses of the body."
Abrams said the children were excited to get involved in the lesson, and shouted answers to questions Mostar and Rivera asked them.
The 12 students presented St. Rose employees with a stack of homemade cards they made for children who are staying in the pediatric unit, as well as a stuffed animal groundhog, named Mr. Ground.
Abrams hopes they can continue to bring classes to the hospital to learn lessons with Stuffee.
For now, Stuffee sits behind a desk at the entrance of the pediatric unit, ready to greet all who walk by with bright blue hair and a contagious red smile.
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