In Reims, a miniature hospital reassures children in a kindergarten: “My teddy bear hurt his paw.”

With a medical record in one hand and a stuffed triceratops in the other, five-year-old Adem calmly walks to the stand. “Tom injured his paw when he fell, so we went to see a physiotherapist. The doctor and I also applied a bandage beforehand,” he explains, showing his stuffed toy. “If you don’t mind, we’ll now look at Tom’s teeth,” Lina, a dental student, chimes in as she helps him fill out his dinosaur notebook. Height, weight, age and possible symptoms – this small brochure contains everything for a child.

Lina is one of a hundred medical students who have volunteered to run a mini-hospital for children (actually for teddy bears), opened this week on the grounds of the Faculty of Medicine in Reims, so as not to dramatize the cherubs’ transition to the hospital. , real. At each of the nine stands, a pair of students receive “patients.” Thirteen schools in the city will take turns working there throughout the week, and almost 500 kindergarten students will benefit from the operation, which was dreamed up by second-year medical students.

All disciplines are represented: dentistry, obstetrics, general medicine, surgery, pharmacy, radiology, etc. “Role play works very well with kindergarten children. It’s interesting that they have this experience quite young because it will give them a positive image in the medical world. We put them at the center of our care for their caregivers so they can better understand why we do a particular test. We are really here to reassure them,” explains Mazarine Lefebvre, one of the organizers of the 2024 plush hospital.

Here we do not use technical terms even for the names of the instruments. Very tenderly, Chloe, armed with a stethoscope and a large blue blouse, talks about euthanizing the polar bear Rafik, who lies on the operating table. “We will have to operate and dress like a real doctor,” she tells the children. Without thinking twice, the little boy puts his galoshes and cap on his head before saying, “I can try!” »

“He’s Saved Thanks to Dr. Chloe”

Chloe, a student, grabs a balloon and explains the maneuver: “Count to three, we’ll put your bear to sleep with this little mask and save him.” A few minutes later, Rafik leaves with his stuffed animal in his arms, safe and sound thanks to “Dr. Chloe.” “Now you can give him a big hug,” the student slips in.

For the teachers involved in this initiative, it is also a great opportunity to immerse themselves in a new world, as explained Karine Rossignol, a kindergarten teacher at the SNCF school in Reims. “They don’t know all these professions. Injuries often occur on the playground, and sometimes children have to undergo additional examinations, such as x-rays. Here they learn vocabulary about equipment and different jobs. And they will have to reuse it in the classroom during language workshops. »