Someone (stuffed) to hug

Hundreds of teddy bears have been camping out in the office of Dr. William Fulkerson, CEO of Duke University Hospital, for the past few weeks. The furry creatures are artfully arranged into scenes too intricate to invite snuggling.

But in a few weeks, most of the bears will be in the arms of children receiving treatment at DUH.

The bears will be auctioned off as part of packages in a silent auction Dec. 5 at the 14th Annual Teddy Bear Ball, a fundraiser for the children's department. As people leave the auction, organizers will encourage them to donate the teddy bears they received with their items back to the children. Auction organizer Lucy Castle said the bears will then be distributed to sick children at DUH, other Duke-owned hospitals and sexual abuse refuge centers.

About 87 percent of the bears end up going to the children, Castle added. Organizers hope the auction will garner $350,000 this year, all of which will go to augmenting the cost of nearly $44 million in free care Duke Children's provides every year.

In the past, all the bears have been donated by area corporations and businesses such as WalMart. "But the problem was all the bears looked the same," said Deborah Goodwin, Fulkerson's assistant, who organized the drive for the first time last year. She wanted members from the entire Duke community to get more creative stuffed bears and donate them to the auction.

And creativity is what she's gotten.

One pair of teddies is dressed in Duke and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill memorabilia, but the UNC bear sports crutches, a black eye and bandages. Many bears are dressed like surgeons and doctors--making it easy to imagine them rushing down halls to answer calls from their tiny bear beepers or performing complete physical exams with their mini stethoscopes.

A Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-themed bear boasts a zippered-up mouth and a T-shirt with HIPAA across the front. Four teddies dressed as characters from The Wizard of Oz stand in a corner ready to march down a yellow-brick road. One bear nearly four feet tall proudly wears the blue uniform of the Duke maintenance staff. Most of the bears have been donated by departments and organizations within Duke University Health Systems. Goodwin said she solicited teddy bears from University departments as well, but none have been given yet.

Before being auctioned off, the bears will be judged for creativity and originality, and prizes will go to the creators of the winners in various categories.

It will be tough to choose victors because everyone has a favorite, organizers said.

"I'm a sucker for men in uniform, and the Duke police department donated one big bear dressed like a police officer," said Castle of her favorite.

Willa Bonner, an assistant in the Duke Health Technology Services department, said she's partial to the two geek bears, which flaunt glasses, cell phones, beepers and high-riding pants. Bonner's department has collected 151 bears--more than any other department so far.

Organizers have already collected more than twice as many bears as they did last year, but Goodwin would still like to see more both this year and in future years. "I'd love to see a teddy bear for every child that comes into the hospital," she said.

Teddy bear donations can be dropped off at Fulkerson's office on the first floor of Duke Hospital South, room 14209.