Doctor draws amazing cartoons on dressings to comfort kids after surgery

• A pediatric surgeon in Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio makes sure children will be comforted after a surgical procedure.
• Dr. Robert Parry surprises kids with a hand-drawn dressing featuring a cartoon character or something that they personally like.
• The hospital says Dr. Parry does this so kids do not have a long-lasting memory of a scar following a surgery.

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Dr Robert Parry wants to make surgery a little less frightening for kids.

To help, he put down his scalpel and picked up a pen.

After surgery, he draws amazing cartoons on their dressings so when kids wake up, they aren’t frightened by the scar.

Akron Children’s Hospital, in Ohio, where he is a pediatric surgeon, said: ‘Dr. Robert Parry always takes a moment to make sure a scar isn’t the only lasting memory of a child’s surgical procedure.

‘He surprises them with a hand-drawn dressing featuring a character or something that personally interests them.’

Dr Parry has been with the hospital since 2011 and he has performed more than 10,000 surgeries.

He likes to draw everything from Disney characters to sports team logos and once he even made a French salad ‘dressing’ bottle for a great pun.

Every drawing takes him about five minutes but they make a huge difference to his patients.

Samantha Manning brought her then 11-month-old daughter in for an operation on her liver in 2014.

Dr Parry operated on her and he drew a rose garden on her dressing.

Speaking to CNN, Samantha said: ‘We had no idea ahead of time that this was Dr. Parry’s special trademark.

‘We were really moved by it. The rose garden was symbolic of our larger experience with Dr. Parry and the hospital overall, taking the extra step to do those small, little gestures. It shows how much they care and really lifted our spirits.’

Nine years ago, Christina Potts Whipkey’s daughter Kennedy had a Dr Parry drawing while she was in hospital.

She said: ‘The doctor told Kennedy and her siblings she would have a lovely butterfly after she was done.

‘When Kennedy came out, everyone was excited to see what the doctor meant. Kennedy was so proud of the pretty bandage and not concerned about any scars.’

Source: Metro