Medical practitioners are taking note of a puppet maker in Winnipeg. She is helping young cancer patients to make sense of the months of treatment ahead of them.

The miniature hospital at Cancer Care Manitoba in Winnipeg is a new addition to its children's unit. A child life therapist thought of the idea to complement the patient puppets she used to explain medical procedures to young children.

"If the children are given careful explanation as to what is going on it alleviates their fears and their anxieties," said puppet maker Shawn Kettner.

Abby Heppner works on her puppet patient

"They are more likely to respond to the medication and it can actually shorten hospital stays."

Four-year-old Abby Heppner from Altona, Man., was diagnosed with leukemia just over a year ago. Although her parents recently found out she is now in remission, Abby faced a routine of lumbar punctures (LP), IVs and chemotherapy.

Abby's patient, a puppet, is helping smooth the road to recovery.

"She still cries, I mean before her LPs or her IVs," says her mother, Rashell Heppner. "But the crying doesn't last that long, as soon as she's back out here with the toys."

Kettner, a pioneer in medical role-playing, has been making patient puppets for 20 years. Each puppet is hand crafted to order and takes at least 40 hours to complete.

The puppets are models for procedures such as putting in an IV or prosthetic device.

Puppets come with an opening so the children can see the internal organs and what's going on inside, Kettner said. They even come with removable hair so the puppet always looks the same as the child undergoing cancer treatment.

Through a brochure and a Web site, the puppet maker has attracted international attention.

Her craftsmanship can be found in clinics and hospitals across Canada, the United States and more than 15 countries, including Belgium, Japan, Australia and Bosnia, as well as in provincial child witness programs.

At Cancer Care Manitoba, child life specialist Dawn Kidder said children often play with the puppets on their own or with other children.

"There is more work being done by the child without me being involved," said Kidder. "That's the magic of the two pieces coming together."