Assistance League helps kids cope with trauma




BEAR HUGS- Jack Hurst, 2, knows all about the healing power of  an  embrace.  Young  Jack  used  a  furry  friend  from  the Assistance  League's  Share  a  Bear  program  to  help  him  get through a scary trip to the hospital.

BEAR HUGS- Jack Hurst, 2, knows all about the healing power of an embrace. Young Jack used a furry friend from the Assistance League’s Share a Bear program to help him get through a scary trip to the hospital.


Two-and-a-half-year-old Jack Hurst took a bad fall, and his mother, Andrea, thought he had broken his arm. She rushed him to Urgent Care for an X-ray. Frightened and crying, he wouldn’t hold still so that the Xray could be processed. Finally the nurse came up with a solution and gave him a soft, fuzzy Casey bear provided by Assistance League of Conejo Valley. He hugged the bear to his chest, sniffled a bit and calmed down enough so that the doctor was finally able to shoot the picture. By the time mother and son left the facility, Jack was smiling and happily did not have a broken arm.

Swift Memorial Health Care Foundation recently awarded a grant to the Share-A-Bear program provided by Assistance League of Conejo Valley at an awards ceremony at the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club. Accepting the grant was Eileen Hannemann of the group’s grants committee. The grant is to be used for the purchase of more bears which will be given to local hospitals, fire departments, urgent care centers and paramedics for children in crisis.

The Share-A-Bear program has provided many children with comfort in time of trauma and is one of many programs run by Assistance League, a nonprofit volunteer organization headquartered in Thousand Oaks.

For more information, visit www.alcv.net.

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