Sixty-three percent of children reported a fear of needles in a 2012 survey — and can we blame them? No one likes getting poked with sharp, pointy objects that draw blood. But while many of us only have to conquer that fear once or twice a year, pediatric IV and enteral feeding patients must encounter needles much more frequently.
Ella Casano knows about that firsthand. At age 7, she was diagnosed with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare disorder that can lead to internal bleeding. For seven years after her diagnosis, Casano received IV infusions every six to eight weeks, procedures that inspired her at just 10 years old to invent the Medi Teddy — a teddy bear medicine bag cover intended to comfort children in hospital rooms.
“When I had my first infusion, I was surprised and a little bit intimidated by the look of the amount of tubing and medical equipment on my IV pole. As I saw more and more children experiencing the same feelings, I became more interested in creating a friendlier experience for young IV patients, so I created Medi Teddy,” Casano, now 18, wrote on her website.
Here’s how it works: Doctors and nurses secure a patient’s IV bag onto the back of the cheery animal. They can deploy “Hope,” a bear made from silicone and plastic (which friends and family can write sweet notes on with washable markers), or “Bailey,” a softer version made with low pile plush fabric.
“From the front, the patient sees a friendly stuffed animal rather than a bag of medicine,” Casano explained in a video for Kidskind. But from the back, medical workers can monitor the liquid through the fully open or mesh rears.
When Casano was 12 years old, she secured a manufacturer to help her create a full-fledged company selling the bears, as well as 501c3 status for Medi Teddy Inc., her nonprofit arm that’s on a mission to “comfort the sick, reduce anxiety during infusions, and normalize medical care,” per its website. Casano was honored as one of Today’s Grounderbreakers for International Day of the Girl in 2019, and a recent survey proclaimed that 95% of respondents reported improved emotional well-being of their child during an infusion, thanks to the cute creatures.
But stats and honors aside, Casano feels the magic of her creations when she sees them helping children out in the real world. While she was filming the Today show in New York, for example, a little girl walked by her with a Medi Teddy on an IV pole — “completely unplanned,” Casano told Nice News.
“I talked to her later, and she said that she was scared of the sight of her IV bag full of blood product, and that her Medi Teddy helped to hide it. It was incredible to see Medi Teddy actually benefiting a patient in such a spontaneous way. It showed me the true impact it’s creating in the lives of these patients,” she said.
The bears have come a long way since their first iteration — which, according to Casano’s mother Meg, was created by the youngster cutting up a stuffed animal and getting crafty with a hot glue gun. Her nurses loved her invention, inspiring the mother-daughter duo to launch a GoFundMe that surpassed its goal in just four days.
Today, Medi Teddy Inc. has sent thousands of the little animals to hospitals and children for free, and is supported by donations and charities. But if you’re interested in scooping one up, Bailey and Hope are also sold on the company’s website for $24.99 and $39.99, respectively.
And as for Casano? She’s currently on the pre-med track at Stanford but exploring a variety of health care-related career paths, and her goal is for the Medi Teddy to one day be a regular part of pediatric hospital room setups. “I always want Medi Teddy to be a part of my life, and I hope to continue expanding upon it as much as I can,” she shared. “It’s something that I really enjoy doing.”
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