White coat? Check. Stethoscope? Check. Makeup and big red nose?
Check?
With a kickoff event last week, Hasbro Children’s Hospital announced the latest addition to its staff – “clown doctors.” And while patients may not trust any medical advice they receive from the likes of Dr. Bumble and Dr. Loon, the newcomers will bring just what the doctor ordered: some laughter.
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The six performers – whose presence is made possible by a three-year, $140,000 grant from the Hasbro Children’s Fund, a philanthropic entity funded by Hasbro Inc. – went to “work” last week at the children’s hospital, helping to alleviate the pain their “patients” go through.
The program, run by the New York-based Big Apple Circus and called Clown Care, will have the professional performers showcasing their juggling, mime, music and magic talents, as well as their senses of humor.
Linda Goodale, a certified child life specialist at the hospital and interim manager of Child Life Services, said she became familiar with Clown Care several years ago and has seen the care and respect the clown doctors display toward patients.
“I’ve watched children break into a smile when they were on their way to physical treatment,” she said. “It is unique.”
Hasbro will be the 18th hospital where the Big Apple Circus offers Clown Care, said Andrea Kopel, vice president of community programs. She said the Providence hospital is a welcome addition to the list, which includes only “the finest, most highly ranked” child medical facilities.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Clown Care was born out of a personal tragedy for Big Apple Circus Creative Director Michael Christensen.
The co-founder of Big Apple Circus, Christensen was looking for answers after his brother passed away at a relatively early age, Kopel said.
Shortly after he asked for a sign, his phone rang. On the line was a children’s hospital asking him to perform as a clown for its patients, she said.
Over the past 20 years, Big Apple has grown Clown Care from a one-time performance into the nationwide network of performers that it has in its stable today.
Kopel said that along with entertaining patients, the clown doctors also give the patients an important power they may be missing during their stay – liberation.
In the hospital, children are basically at the whim of the people who are caring for them, being subjected to treatment and tests at virtually all hours, Kopel said.
But during the time the clowns visit the patients, the children are allowed to use the clowns’ services however they see fit.
The performers also break through the serious, oftentimes oppressive, atmosphere in the hospital. In the circus, the ringmaster acts as the authority figure and generally becomes the target of a clown’s parody. In the hospital room, the clowns take aim at the doctors, rules and procedures, poking fun at what the children are subjected to.
“The element of parody can be very liberating for children and families,” Kopel said.
But overall, the idea is to take the child’s mind away from the pressure and pain they are feeling.
One of Kopel’s favorite examples came at one of Clown Care’s other hospitals. There, a young patient waited for a new laptop that was being donated through a charitable organization.
She was especially anxious on the day it was supposed to arrive, and the delivery was running late, Kopel said. Two clown doctors went into the patient’s room and pretended to measure her lap for her new computer. Before the act was over, the patient and her mother were tied up in measuring tape and laughing hysterically.
“What they really do is change the energy,” Kopel said. “They change the point of view in this room.”
