Troopers pass out teddy bears to pediatric patients
Published 9:26 am Friday, December 20, 2019
During the Christmas season, Alabama State Troopers visit hospitals throughout the state and present Trooper Teddy Bears to children who might not be able to spend Christmas at home with the rest of their families.
Two Troopers paid a visit to the Vaughan Regional Medical Center (VRMC) Pediatric Unit Thursday morning to deliver teddy bears to the young patients.
Sr. Trooper Christopher Fails and Trooper Adric Reed handed a teddy bear to all three of the pediatric patients, Tadere White, Jr., Tyrese Bowens Jr. and John Jackson.
Fails said he’s been delivering teddy bears to hospitalized children around the holidays for the past 16 years.
“It gives us the pleasure of kids seeing us in a non-law enforcement capacity,” said Fails. “It shows them that we care about them.”
As Fails and Reed entered each hospital room on Thursday morning, they wished the young patients a speedy recovery and a merry Christmas.
“We spread joy and love during the Christmas holidays,” said Fails. “It’s an honor for us to actually do this. It shows these kids the human side of us, that we care about these children and their parents. When a child is sick, it affects our families as well.”