Outreach Activities

Teddy Bear Hospital

The Teddy Bear Hospital (TBH) has been a student-led initiative since the inaugural event at the School of Medicine, University of Limerick, in 2013. A Teddy Bear Hospital (TBH) is an official project of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. It provides primary school students with a unique and interactive way to experience the atmosphere of a health care setting or encounter without being patients themselves.

Children (aged between 4-6 years) bring their teddy bears as patients, with medical students acting as Teddy’s doctor. They rotate through a number of role-play scenarios, which simulate common health care encounters. Our students ensure a fun and relaxed environment, which helps to reduce childhood anxiety around hospitals and healthcare settings.

Each year, our students try to broaden the reach of the TBH to different schools in the community and in doing so, they foster wonderful and powerful links with teachers and children in the community. The event also promotes the importance of healthy nutrition and exercise from an early age, both of which are key public health messages and invaluable in promoting healthy choices among school children in the community.

Over 200 young school children attended the inaugural TBH and with each year, it has gone from strength to strength, with almost 700 children attending in 2024.

The School of Medicine is very proud of our students who, year on year, demonstrate exceptional leadership, organisational and communication skills in staging this event. Reaching out to the local community during their training, helps forge strong connections with the people many of them will go on to serve when they graduate as doctors.

The Care Aware Crew

The Care Aware Crew is a health promotion and leadership initiative aimed at primary school children. Care Aware Crew was established by the Junior Health Sciences Academy to teach key first aid skills to 3rd and 4th class pupils. Video tutorials and “hands-on” activities developed by clinical experts teach important life skills such as how to call an ambulance and treatment of minor injuries. The interactive lessons also teach basic anatomy and physiology in an accessible and enjoyable format with a focus on promoting healthy organs and bodies. The Care Aware Crew Project Team comprises academic, education, community healthcare, and acute hospital partners with service user participation from our school communities. School of Medicine team members include researcher Dr. Niamh Cummins (Associate Professor in Public Health) and clinical expert Ms. Mary O’Neill (Clinical Tutor in Paramedic Studies).

Feedback to date from the schools on the Care Aware Crew has been overwhelmingly positive from both teachers and students. The programme is inclusive and schools involved in Care Aware Crew are diverse, representing DEIS, mixed, all-boys, all-girls and Irish schools. Following on from a pilot scheme and a successful funding application to HSE Spark, the Care Aware Crew will be offered to all primary schools in the Mid-West in 2025.

Strong Roots

“Strong Roots” is an intersectoral innovation project funded by HSE Spark Innovation that aims to address major health challenges for children in Regeneration areas in Limerick.

The work is a collaboration between UL School of Medicine clinical academics Dr Patrick O’Donnell (Associate Professor of General Practice), Dr Siobhán Neville (Associate Professor of Paediatrics), and representatives of HSE Public Health, HSE Community Health, HSE Dental, Limerick Regeneration, and staff, parents and students of Corpus Christi National School and Family Centre Moyross.

Priority areas for health and wellbeing have been identified in conjunction with key stakeholders and a needs-led, co-design workshop took place in February 2024 to explore innovative solutions.

Academy for Children

The Academy for Children was set up by the University of Limerick’s Access Office in 2020 to encourage and support primary school children in the community to reach their full potential and begin their journey onto higher education.

The School of Medicine is very privileged to have contributed to the Academy for Children’s mission by delivering bespoke in-school programmes for pupils in 5^th and 6^th class in schools in the city and county.

Faculty and staff at the school were also delighted to welcome pupils on –campus for their exploration days and for their graduation day from the programme. The School looks forward to ongoing collaborations with the Academy of Children and also looks forward to seeing some of its graduates on campus in the not too distant future!