PeaceHealth hopes toys will ease young people in their care

It’s not always bad to find yourself in the emergency room.

OK, it’s probably bad. But there’s a bright side for kids and teenagers who end up visiting PeaceHealth’s emergency room. The hospital has been conducting a toy drive that started on Black Friday and will carry through Christmas if not longer.

Dr. Dina Brothers, an emergency room physician at the hospital, said it’s one initiative on a list of projects that PeaceHealth is undertaking to improve well-being for ER patients.

“We started a project to increase the comfort of care that kids receive when they are in the emergency department,” Brothers said.

The program has received a good response, Brothers added. Registered Nurse Jaimie Mogush, who helped concoct the toy drive, said they’ve received superhero masks and capes, princess crowns, coloring books, regular books, puzzles, bubbles and much more.

The toy drive will hopefully provide a better stay for patients, Mogush said.

“It benefits the department because it helps increase the child’s comfort level,” Mogush said. “It makes it more fun of an experience, keep the way they look at medicine, at doctors, at the emergency department as something that’s not really scary.”

The toys can also help kids when they’re getting an intimidating treatment such as intravenous therapy, and it can also help relieve stress for families who have extended stays.

“My nurses just want to give (the toys) to everybody,” Mogush said.