AILSA CHANG, HOST:
When a beloved teddy bear or fluffy construction truck is not doing well, it may be time to see a doctor.
RUTH HASMAN: Don't throw away your stuffie. It can almost always be fixed. And we have magic fingers, and we can help.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Ruth Hasman's home in British Columbia is where you will find the teddy bear hospital. Children and families mail or drop off patients, patients leaking stuffing or missing eyes or bald from years of love, hoping they'll make a full recovery.
HASMAN: I have a huge dining room table that I've taken over, and it's my shop. And I've got stuffies all - you know, all over in various conditions.
CHANG: And it's a lot more than just teddy bears.
HASMAN: I just - I checked my Instagram. I've had over 63 different animals or, you know, dolls or whatever. So I hadn't realized that I had that many, but, you know, dogs and cats and monkeys and cows and...
KELLY: More than a thousand loveys made whole again by Hasman's needle and thread and some gentle care.
HASMAN: ...Santa Claus, kangaroo, Bugs Bunny, and the list goes on.
CHANG: Hasman has been taking in the stuffed family members for 15 years. And before that, she was sewing teddy bears from old coats and collecting critical supplies.
HASMAN: I have drawers and drawers of fabrics that I've kept because the bears are well used, and the stuffies that you can get in the thrift stores are fairly brand-new. So I save things that are well used, and I'm able to use little pieces of fabric to fur graft some of the older bears.
KELLY: Children often reach out to the teddy bear doctor to thank her for her and her team's help. And in at least one case, Hasman received a letter from the actual patient.
HASMAN: I get notes from the child, and I have one here that was actually the teddy bear wrote to me. So it's a picture of the bear. It says, thanks. And inside it says, thank you for saving my life from Teddy to Dr. Ruth.
CHANG: Aw. With her help, stuffies too frail to survive another round in the washing machine get second chances, extra years to provide comfort through bumpy bedtimes, movie marathons and long road trips.
HASMAN: That's - you know, that's the other thing - that in fixing these, it's keeping the memories alive.
KELLY: Keeping the memories alive with plenty of time to make more. Thanks to the teddy bear doctor.
(SOUNDBITE OF LG MALIQUE SONG, "VISION") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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