Have you heard of the Hospital for the Little Ones? The hospital where children can take care of their toy animals.
The Hospital for the Little Ones is an activity of the Students Association of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (AEFML), aimed at children aged 3 to 7 years. It was initially created and developed by the European Medical Students Association (EMSA), an organization formed by various medical student associations in Europe. It has had the participation of countries such as Sweden, Germany, Austria, Croatia, and the United Kingdom.
The main objective is to reduce the anxiety that children feel when in the presence of a health professional.
This initiative requires each child to take a soft toy/doll and go through a set of stations, such as waiting room, screening, consultation, blood tests, imaging, disinfection, surgery, hospitalization, treatment room, pharmacy, and dentist, which intend to simulate the different hospital services, with the child being responsible for the "treatment" of his doll.
The annual editions of the Hospital for the Little Ones take place for a week in Canteen I of the University of Lisbon, aimed at schools, and during a weekend for families. The Hospital for the Little Ones in Setúbal is now in its fourth edition and takes place during a weekend aimed at families, at Cais 3 in Setúbal.
Since 2016, the Hospital for the Little Ones has a social component. The project selects one or two institutions dedicated to children and of a humanitarian and/or social nature.
In all editions, admission is free.
This year, the 20th edition of the “Hospital for the Little Ones” project started earlier than expected. The children of D. Maria Pia School received this project, between 13-15 October, as part of a partnership between Casa Pia and the Hospital for the Little Ones.
Casa Pia of Lisbon is a public institute whose mission is to promote the rights and protection of children and young people, especially those in danger and at risk of exclusion and with special educational needs. The aim is to ensure their integral development, through reception, education, training, and social and professional insertion. Its action focuses on inclusive learning paths, considering the reception as transitory and the return to the family environment the centre of institutional intervention, prolonged education, qualifying initial training for double certification and the relevance of intervention with deaf and deaf-blind students.
“Organizing an event such as the “Hospital for the Little Ones” at Casa Pia in Lisbon, as well as the participation of this educational community in it, will be an asset and an enormous opportunity that they would hardly have in their day-to-day life”, said the Organizing Committee of the Hospital for the Little Ones.
Still this year, this initiative will take place in two major occasions: from 29 November to 3 December 2021, a week dedicated to schools, in the Refectory I of the Social Welfare services of the University of Lisbon – “Cantina Velha da UL”, which will have more than 2000 children; and a weekend dedicated to families, on 4 and 5 December 2021, at the Pavilion of Knowledge, which will receive several hundred small doctors for one day.
To participate, children only need to bring a doll that has a "wound" and a desire to play!
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