hospitals |
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Timm
Metivier (Dr. Presto) performs a magic trick in the ER for a patient
as Mila Triblante, nurse, and Lori Smith (Dr. Moonbeam) look on.
photo courtesy of Miami Children's Hospital |
Then you've never had a kitty-cat scan, a red-nose transplant or a chocolate-milk transfusion - all common procedures administered by the Clown Care Unit of Miami Children's Hospital.
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The
Big Apple Team at Miami Children's Hospital is the only clown unit operating
in Florida.
photo courtesy of Miami Children's Hospital |
The CCU's mission is to inject a little humor and light into what can be a scary experience for kids and their families.
Miami Children's isn't the only hospital in Florida to have a bunch of clowns working there, but it is the only one to have a Big Apple Circus program.
What distinguishes the New York-based Big Apple program is that all of the performers are professional clowns, said John Lynch - also known as Dr. Pescado - supervisor of the Miami team. Other hospitals might have volunteer clowns or hospital staff who also clown around. A few have full-time clowns.
Lynch is an actor and a four-year veteran of the Ringling Brothers/Barnum
& Bailey Circus. He's been with the hospital clown unit for about two and
a half years. The team also includes a professional magician and a couple of
storytellers.
Big Apple teams usually work in children's hospitals or the pediatrics departments
of regular medical centers, he said. The seven-member Miami team is at the hospital
four days a week and pulls approximately five-hour shifts, visiting kids in
the intensive care unit, bone-marrow transplant center, emergency room, physical
therapy unit and the outpatient clinic.
Lynch enjoys his work and considers laughter and play - at the appropriate time and place - an important part of patient care.
Humor, he said, "helps remind patients and their families that they are more than just their illness."