Compassion bears now available for kids caught in emergency situations

250 compassion bears are now available to be used by first responders to help kids on scene during emergency situations. Scott Miller explains.

Huron County has had their fair share of crashes involving kids during the month of March.

On March 4, a school bus and transport collided south of Seaforth. Two weeks later, at the same intersection, two children and an adult were seriously injured after the SUV they were in collided with another SUV.

Compassion bears may have come in handy those two days.

“We do deal with kids that are in difficult situations. Fire, EMS and police are the ones that are at those scenes or collisions or whatever the case may be. We probably are the best people to hand these bears out and provide that comfort at that time,” said Huron County OPP Const. Craig Soldan.

Two hundred and fifty compassion bears are now available in Huron County police cruisers, ambulances and fire trucks, thanks to the Seaforth Optimist Club and Seaforth Knights of Columbus.

The cuddly stuffed bears are meant to be distributed to kids at fires, crashes and domestic situations - wherever and whenever they might provide a moment’s comfort to a child in need of comforting.

“Quite often we run into incidences with young children. Their parents are injured or what not. Having something to give to the kids to keep their minds off the situation is very beneficial to them and to the families,” explained David Wagner, Huron County paramedic duty superintendent.

“In that moment for somebody that’s going through something that is probably the worst day of their life, it’s maybe something that is just that little key that helps get them through the rest of that day,” said Huron East Fire Seaforth Station Chief James Wilbee.

“The girl that started this is from Waterloo; her daughter was involved in an incident when she was a child. And they had these bears on the ambulance when they came to pick her up. She’s 36 years old now, and she still has hers. That’s a big deal. It kind of hit me in my heart, so I thought let’s give it a shot here,” said Seaforth Optimist Club President Robert Costello, who spearheaded the compassion bear project.

Costello says the two service clubs have already sent 10 compassion bears to the Ronald McDonald House in London, but the rest have been distributed to frontline emergency services personnel in Huron County.

“These bears are going to reach a lot of people, you know, more than probably just here in Huron County,” said Joe Ryan, president of the Seaforth Knights of Columbus.

“When a child is struggling with whatever they’re dealing with, this gives them a distraction, and something comforting and something soft and fuzzy. And everyone loves a teddy bear, so you just can’t go wrong with this,” added Soldan.