“Stress Snuggles” in the form of small padded animals and decorative pillows are a joint effort by the Doctors Hospital volunteers and the ladies of the Del Webb at Woodbridge residential community on Lathrop Road in Manteca.
The hospital volunteers made up of both men and women — formerly known as Pink Ladies — have created plush toys by themselves for countless years in the age of their community.  It’s just the ticket for a small child coming into the hospital with a fear of the unknown when he or she sees a smiling face giving them a soft cushy toys they can hold and even talk to when they are frightened by their surroundings.
The volunteers at DHM draw out the happy and silly faces on fabric that is used to create a small pillow just the right size to hold and snuggle into the nap of a child’s neck.  Other hospital volunteers take the cutouts made from those special designs to their homes and sew them together on their sewing machines before stuffing them full of cotton.
Then there are the professional-looking Prayer Bears made by the Ladies of Woodbridge that the hospital volunteers hand out to children coming into the Emergency Room with colds, cuts and bruises.  It’s something to keep their minds off of their owies.
Together the two groups feel they are making a difference in the lives and fears of patients both young and old with even geriatric patients are thankful to have something they can hold close to them within the hospital environment.

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.