Knights of Columbus Donate Teddy Bears to Hospital

DELAND, Fla., December 22, 2016 On Dec. 16, the DeLand Knights of Columbus, Council 6274, donated 93 teddy bears to Florida Hospital DeLand.

It is important to us to give back to the community, said Ed Eberl, third-degree Knight DeLand, Knights of Columbus. This is the second year we've donated these teddy bears to the children at Florida Hospital DeLand and are so excited to have the opportunity to once again give these Christmas bears to Florida Hospital DeLand.

The hospital will provide these donated teddy bears to children who visit the emergency department during the Christmas holiday.

This donation from the Knights of Columbus will be such a nice gift for the children that come through our ER, said Tonya Trost, Florida Hospital DeLand emergency department manager. We see a lot of patients in our ER under the age of 18. In this year alone, our emergency department cared for nearly 12,000 pediatric patients. That's a lot of kids! These teddy bears will go a long way in helping bring cheer and comfort to our youngest patients.

About Florida Hospital DeLand

Florida Hospital DeLand is a member of Adventist Health System, a faith-based health care organization with 46 hospital campuses and nearly 8,200 licensed beds in 10 states. With 164-beds, Florida Hospital DeLand is one of the six Florida Hospitals in Volusia and Flagler counties that composes the Florida Hospital East Florida Region. As the largest hospital system in the area, the Florida Hospital East Florida Region has 923 beds and more than 6,000 employees. With a mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ, the Florida Hospital East Florida Region collectively contributed nearly $120 million in benefits in 2015 to the underprivileged, the community's overall health and wellness and spiritual needs, and capital improvements.