'Buddy bears' to help Cork's fire crews tend to children caught up in emergency events
The cutest recruits to ever join the Cork county fire service reported for duty today.
The 50 cuddly teddy bears who are now a valued part of each station crew across the county, and who will ride in the fire trucks on every emergency call-out, are undergoing intense specialist training to be able to help children who are involved in or who witness traumatic emergency situations.
The ‘Buddy Bears’ will be ready at a moment’s notice to help reduce the suffering of children at incidents and to help them cope with the stresses that they may feel from their involvement in a traumatic event.
It is hoped the bears, who are experts at giving and receiving hugs, will help redirect the focus of the child away from the emergency situation as much as possible while firefighters get on with the difficult task of responding to or dealing with the emergency itself.
Assistant Fire Officer, Aaron Fahy, said they hope the bears won’t be called upon too much.
“But we are pleased to be prepared to make a difference in the lives of children during these difficult events with the help of our “Buddy Bear” friends,” he said.
“A child may not necessarily need to be injured for the bears to spring into action. It may be that the child is a witness to an incident that causes distress.
“It is often hard to predict how drivers, passengers and pedestrians will cope with being involved in road traffic collision or other emergency situation, and children may be particularly affected at these incidents.
“We want to do all we can to alleviate the distress caused to children involved or witness to collisions on our roads or other traumatic events.”
'Wonderful initiative'
The county fire service said in order to ensure the effectiveness of the Buddy Bears initiative, the new recruits will only be called upon to help in certain circumstances where required or appropriate, based on the experience of the firefighters at the scene.
“The teddy bears may not be given out at every incident but they will be deployed where the fire and rescue personnel considers it to be appropriate,” Mr Fahy said.
The Mayor of the County Cork, Cllr Christopher O’Sullivan, welcomed the first new ‘Buddy Bears’ recruits to Millstreet Fire Station today.
“It’s great to see these bears joining the team,” he said. “They have a very important job to assist fire service personnel in any situation where they can help keep children calm and alleviate stress.
"The Buddy Bear will be given to the child to keep and look after at home. It’s a wonderful initiative.”
