Our Teddy Bear and Doll Hospital!
Posted by Rikey Austin on
We all know how scary it can be going to the doctor or dentist, not knowing what they will say or what medicine you will need. We understand that you will feel exactly the same if you need to contact us about your poorly Bear, Doll or Soft Toy.
They are very precious to you and hold so much love for you in their little or, in some cases, not so little bodies! We thought it might be nice for you to know how the Hospital works and what you can expect if you ever need to contact us.
What do you mean Hospital – isn’t that just for people and pets? No, we have a hospital for your other family members too! We have admissions department, patient numbers, triage ward, hospital wards, repair areas (operating theatres), doctors, nurses, locums and administrators! We are based in beautiful Lyme Regis, Dorset in what used to be an old school.
So, who works in the hospital?
Probably more people than you think!
Your first contact with us is likely to be with Helen, the hospital administrator. Helen’s job is to deal with phone calls and emails from our customers, provide estimates for repairs, book patients into the hospital, let customers know when patients are ready to be discharged, create invoices and pack up the patients for their journey home.
However, you might speak to Cheryl, who also works part time in administration. She helps out with Helen’s admin responsibilities but her main role is to book appointment slots for patients, source fabric, allocate patients to the locums and keep the hospital wards in order (bears are notorious for partying all night when the hospital is closed!).
Then we have Dr Dave and Nurse Lesley – they specialise in certain repairs and have decades of experience between them. Dr Dave has two passions – dolls and the more elderly type of bear! He is also one of the few people left in the country who has the expertise to repair sheepskin bears. Nurse Lesley is the patch and paw expert for the more delicate bears. They have a wealth of knowledge between them which the rest of the hospital rely on!
Then we have the Locum Doctors – these are specialist doctors in their own fields who are called in when we need them. We have Dr Margaret, who is our go to person if you need a pattern created or clothes made. She tends to work on the more modern (made in the last 30 years) soft toys.
Dr Joe specialises in joint repairs and eyes on the more modern bears as well as patches and re-stitching.
There is Registrar Cheryl (yes, the same as admin Cheryl) who is learning some new skills from Dr Dave as well as carrying out repairs on the soft toys. She is also the resident Knitting Nurse.
Last, but certainly not, least, is Nurse Chase. Nurse Chase is our go-to person for cleaning bears and soft toys. We will be coming back to the work she does in a future post.
Aren’t you a Bear Shop as well? Yes, we are. We still have a small area that is dedicated to selling bear kits, vintage bears, hand made bears, knitted outfits, ragdoll kits and bear making supplies. We welcome visitors and you will get to see the work that we do in the hospital.
Look out for our next post about estimating the cost of repairs and how the patients arrive at the hospital.
Blog Posts to look forward to:
Journey of a patient through the repair process
Pricing – how estimating repairs is carried out
The Alice Bear Shop Design Team – who they are and what do they do
Moth problems and solutions with your mohair bear
To wash or not to wash – cleaning your bear or soft toy
Sheepskin – some background on your precious friend and the repair process
Sustainability – what it means to Alice’s Bear Shop
Alice’s Bear Shop’s Ethics
(written by Cheryl)