MCH Foundation Partners with Schools
to provide "Baby Think It Over" Dolls

MCH Foundation Purchases Dolls for Schools – The Memorial Community Hospital Foundation recently purchased four “Baby Think It Over Dolls,” for use in local high schools. The computerized dolls, which cost more than $400 each are designed to show teenagers how difficult it can be to care for a baby full time. Shown with the dolls are, from left: Carole Bagby, MCH Foundation Board Member Billie Renelt, Blair High School Family Consumer Science Teacher Susan Farley, and MCH Foundation Chairperson Dr. K.C. Bagby.

In an effort to help prevent teenage pregnancy, the Memorial Community Hospital Foundation recently purchased four new “Baby Think It Over” dolls for use in local high schools. They are currently being used in Blair, Tekamah and Lyons high schools.

According to MCH Foundation Board Member Billie Renelt, the simulation dolls show students how difficult it can be to care for a real baby, therefore making them “think it over.” The computerized dolls, which cost more than $400 each, work through a data sensor reading program and are programmed by teachers. They need all kinds of care, from feeding, to burping, rocking and even diaper changing.

“These dolls can give students a glimpse of what it is like to care for a child, and sometimes a glimpse is enough,” Renelt said. “Like a real baby, these babies can cry for no reason. The dolls also offer an excellent opportunity for teens to talk with their parents. When the teens take the ‘baby’ home, there is some family involvement, although the ‘baby’ is the teens’ responsibility.”

Susan Farley, Family Consumer Science Teacher at Blair High School, said on average, at least 75 students will use the dolls each year. She said that overall, parents are very supportive of the program and in the five years she has offered the dolls in her classes, she has not had one parent refuse for his or her child to take the doll home. Farley sees it as a great opportunity for teenagers to talk with their parents about important life choices, as well as the joys, pitfalls and time required for parenthood.

Farley said students wear an ID bracelet so they are the only one who can care for their ‘baby,’ and when the baby cries, they touch their ID to a sensor on the baby, then must figure out what the ‘baby’ wants. The baby will register any neglect if the student does not provide the required care, and it will register if the head is not supported properly at all times, or if rough handling has occurred.

“This program is extremely beneficial because is shows, not 100% what it is like to care for your child, but a good 93%,” Farley said. “Everybody can go one or two nights without sleep, but long-term is harder.

“The kids think the new dolls are awesome because they are much more realistic. They learn that as a parent, their overall reward will be having a well-tended child. They get a grade for their care of the doll, and in child development it is almost 40 to 45% of their grade.”         

Renelt said the four new dolls purchased by the MCH Foundation are actually replacement dolls for ones purchased by physicians’ wives nearly seven years ago. She said the foundation board felt that continuing to partner with local schools and providing more current ‘babies’ was a perfect fit with the Foundation’s mission.

 “The MCH Foundation serves as a steward of charitable gifts and bequests that further the mission of the hospital,” Renelt explained. “We are currently working with three high schools in our service area and are willing to partner with more. If it helps just one teenager to make better decisions, it is worth the investment.”

Farley said that the high school owns four newer dolls and two older ones. By borrowing the hospital’s dolls and using the schools, it cuts down on time the students will have the dolls out, so more kids get to go through the experience and get a glimpse of what it would be like to be solely responsible for the care of a child.

"If it wasn’t for the MCH Foundation purchasing four new dolls, I might have to reconsider using them in adult living, where we reach another 25 to 50 students a year,” Farley stressed. “It’s wonderful that the hospital is helping us keep this program going strong.”