Medical clowns’ results are no laughing matter

Medical clowning or “clown therapy” is speeding up the recovery of young and old patients all around the world, turning children’s cries into giggles and research shows that it does, in fact, reduce stress and anxiety in child patients and their parents.

Medical clowns use jokes and play to provoke laughter which releases endorphins, or happy hormones, in their patients, effectively reducing their need for painkillers. It’s a new idea that is just taking off in Johannesburg.

“You feel like a doctor. You help with the healing and not just the patient,” says medical clown Sizwe Vilakazi from Soweto. “You help the people with the patient, too.”

Vilakazi is part of HeartBeat Clowns. The organisation’s founder, Adi Schacher, whose clown name is Dr HeartBeat, said: “The moment you see a child’s face light up and they smile and you feel the energy and joy they have, everything changes.

“It’s not just words on a business proposal anymore. You actually see the physical impact it has on somebody’s life.”

Schacher recruits unemployed people with a passion for children to become medical clowns. They are trained and can then make a living.

Her first recruits were trained in August by Dr Amnon Raviv from Israel, who is a university lecturer and has more than 20 years of experience in medical clowning.

While HeartBeat Clowns is a nonprofit organisation, they generate income in the form of sponsorships from corporate donors who either have an interest in funding the training of new clowns, or sponsor visits to hospitals, hospices, specialist homes or other facilities.

Medical clowns sometimes use medical devices as props for humour, and are also schooled in infection control and hygiene.

A research report on the benefits of medical clowning conducted by Room Circus Medical Clowning in 2017 found that while there is plenty of anecdotal evidence from patients and families themselves, the claims are backed up by medical studies. It was found that medical clowning actually reduces a child’s anxiety before surgery and their pain levels during invasive procedures such as drawing blood and allergy skin scrapes.

It also helps with respiratory infections, improves the mood and wellbeing of severely disabled children and reduces sexually abused children’s resistance to being examined.

The report also found that medical clowning improves the ability of autistic children to connect and reduces stress in parents and nurses who work with sick children.

It has even been found to have improved pregnancy rates in women undergoing in vitro fertilisation. Tests on 100 sick children found that medical clowns reduced their anxiety, periods of crying and pain scores. – ANA

You see the physical impact it has on someone.