More {{ vm.segmentName}} News
View All {{ vm.segmentName }} News
Quick Facts:
Springfield
For generations, teddy bears living in the Ozarks have suffered through stuffed noses (and bodies), playground injuries, loose seams and unexplained tummy aches with little more than a hug and a Band-Aid. That ends on September 1st.
The Discovery Center of Springfield (DCS), in partnership with Children’s Mercy with Mercy, is opening the Teddy Bear Pediatric Hospital, a new hands-on experience where stuffed animals finally receive the quality medical care they deserve, and children get to discover what it feels like to be the pediatricians providing it.
Inside the new hospital, young visitors will put on medical apparel and take their teddy bear patients through a series of teddy-bear-sized diagnostic procedures using tools like a pulse oximeter, an x-ray machine, and an MRI machine. Visitors will also be able to commemorate their experience by taking a picture in the Children’s Mercy with Mercy Future Pediatrician photo area.
The result is part hospital, part science exhibit and part career laboratory.
“Kids by their very nature need to be inspired, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Tyler Moles, DCS CEO. “When a child puts on a lab coat, checks a patient’s vitals and looks at an X-ray, they are not just pretending to be a pediatrician. For a few minutes, they are the pediatrician. Experiences like that can change what a child imagines is possible for their future.”
The exhibit uses the familiar comfort of teddy bears to introduce children to real medical concepts, equipment, and careers in a setting built for exploration rather than apprehension. Children can encounter tools and procedures similar to those they might encounter in a healthcare setting while remaining firmly in control of the experience as the caregiver.
The project continues the Discovery Center’s work to connect imaginative play with real-world STEM careers. Rather than simply telling children about healthcare professions, the Teddy Bear Pediatric Hospital gives them an environment designed to let them observe, measure, problem solve, communicate, and provide care.
A Ribbon Cutting Celebration and Open House was held Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at the Discovery Center of Springfield, 438 E. St. Louis Street, Springfield, Missouri.
Families, educators, healthcare professionals, community partners and members of the media were invited to attend, tour the new hospital and celebrate the end of the healthcare desert for teddy bears here in the Ozarks.
“We are very excited and proud to be part of this new exhibit that gives kids the opportunity to turn their teddy bears into patients and themselves into doctors,” said Debbie Schwartzkopf, chief administrative officer for Children’s Mercy with Mercy. “We know how important imaginative play is for children, and we also know this kind of play helps them get more comfortable with a visit to the doctor or hospital. We also hope this exhibit inspires kids to imagine themselves as future physicians and discover the joy that comes from caring for others.”
Through the partnership, the organizations hope to make healthcare more familiar to children, introduce them to the people and technology behind pediatric medicine and inspire a new generation to imagine themselves as doctors, nurses, imaging professionals, technicians, and other members of a pediatric care team.
