HERSHEY, Pa. — Two organizations that share a fondness for “ducks” are teaming up to provide hope to pediatric cancer patients, including those at Penn State Children’s Hospital.
Duck Donuts and Gabe’s Chemo Duck Program officially launched a partnership at an event recently at the Children’s Hospital. The donut company presented a check for $10,000 to the Nashville-based charity, which provides stuffed ducks for use in “medical play” by children undergoing cancer treatment.
“Chemo ducks are a developmentally appropriate tool that Child Life specialists use to help explain mediports or Broviac and Hickman lines to children receiving chemotherapy or other medications. The ducks become an instant friend to the children who receive them, and even come with matching bandanas for the duck and child,” said Ashley Kane, manager of the Child Life Program at Penn State Children’s Hospital. “We value having this resource available to provide extra comfort to kids experiencing an otherwise very difficult and scary time.”
In the past year, more than three dozen Chemo Ducks have been distributed to patients at the Children’s Hospital’s outpatient oncology and infusion clinic and pediatric inpatient hematology and oncology unit. It’s one of more than 120 hospitals worldwide that use the stuffed ducks, of which more than 30,000 have been produced and distributed.
Learn more about the partnership between Duck Donuts and Gabe’s Chemo Duck Program here.