Image: Jamie Sweetman, Emergency Department Technician, holding the first rubber duck of the collection – the “parameduck”
December 4, 2023
Rubber ducks line a hallway in London Health Sciences Centre’s (LHSC) University Hospital (UH) Emergency Department (ED), sitting high atop ledges to be admired by staff and patients alike.
The vast collection started with the “parameduck” in March 2020 – when the COVID-19 pandemic was first declared.
Jamie Sweetman, Emergency Department Technician (EDT) bought the rubber duck as a way to bring a smile to his colleagues’ faces as they began to adapt to the changing work environment. “I just wanted to do something fun to help brighten people’s day as everything changed around us,” Sweetman says.
There are rubber ducks of all kinds in the collection – from the #IVEGOTYOURDUCKS911 crew to the Florence Nightingale and surgeon ducks that came all the way from Amsterdam. Some ducks represent moments in time, such as the social bubble duck and the Hilton duck. The Hilton duck represents the time the ED staff had to live in hotels instead of staying with their families during the pandemic. Other ducks represent partner organizations such as the helicopter duck, which is representative of Ornge, a key partner in the EDs at LHSC. And some ducks are just for fun, such as the Hallowe’en ducks.
Sweetman’s initial gesture cascaded into a significant morale boost to the UH ED staff and physicians.
“The collection keeps growing,” Sweetman explains. “I did not anticipate the first rubber duck would have this much influence and impact on my colleagues.”
Elizabeth Baldassarre, Manager, Emergency Medicine at UH, shares how the collection is more than just about rubber ducks. “It’s about being there for one another and for patients. It’s about the resilience needed to ‘just keep swimming’. Even on a bad day, we need to keep working together to give patients the best care possible.”
The ducks have become a symbol of unity and support among the UH ED team. They wear stickers of rubber ducks on their name badges, when staff are on vacation, they look to see if there are new rubber ducks they can pick up to add to the collection and many of the ducks symbolize a part of their work and their professions.
Sweetman is now part of the ED team at Children’s Hospital, LHSC, but the rubber duck collection he started will remain and continue to grow. The legacy of the ducks has become a part of the UH ED culture.
“It’s hard to describe, but these are so much more than ducks,” Baldassarre says. “They mean so much to all of us here.”
Sweetman says it warms his heart to know how much the rubber ducks have come to mean to his colleagues. “People really took the idea and went with it and it’s so great to see. We are all here to support one another through challenging times and to celebrate the good that happens.”
The rubber duck collection is a great example of the excellent interprofessional support Team LHSC not only provides patients, but also to one another.
View the "University Hospital ED has their ducks in a row" video transcript.