Wimmera Health Care Group hosted a Teddy Tour for children from the Jellybeans Playgroup on 28 may 2014. The Jellybeans Playgroup is coordinated by the Wimmera Settlement Program and comprises children from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Teddy Tours allow children to follow the injured Teddy’s journey as he arrives at the hospital by ambulance, is treated in Accident and Emergency, has an X-ray and eventually rests in bed on the ward.
Nine children from Jellybeans playgroup participated along eight mothers. It was particularly useful for the mothers to also become familiar with the hospital surrounds. The children ranged in age from five months to five years of age and are from Pakistan, Burundi, Thailand (Karen State), Sri Lanka, Southern India and the Philippines.
The Tour was coordinated by WHCG but volunteers from the community also helped, including a helper from Pakistan who assists at Jellybeans Playgroup and at the Horsham Library, a volunteer mentor who works one-on-one with a family and a volunteer driver who transported the families to WHCG in the Volunteering Western Victoria bus.