Hospital Clown Visits
Drs. Doo Hickey and Squeeze and The Children’s Hospital at Piedmont
A 17-year-old boy claps his hands as he lies in bed. He has a big smile on his face, a big, honest smile that stretches from ear to ear when he laughs. His eyes are closed. However, sometimes, he opens them to look at us. When he looks at us, he chuckles even louder.
He's laughing because I asked him to count to three. He's expecting me to do a trick when he gets to three. However, in the middle of the countdown, "someone" farted. "T," that's what I'll call our teenager, claims that it's me. Whatever, I deny it. I look at my partner Dr. Doo Hickey, and I blame him. Dr. Doo Hickey claims I did it. Of course, I know it came from "T." All of this makes T laugh even more. Each time he begins to count, someone in the room farts again. After this happens several times, T again goes into a fit of laughter; he claps his hands over his head and then looks squarely at me. He's had enough of this; even though it's making him laugh, he wants to stop it. He says, "I am tired of you farting." He says, "Dr. Doohickey is tired of you farting". Then, between bouts of his laughter, he says, "Even GOD is tired of you farting." I looked back at him with my best Buster, Keaton stone face expression and I say, "It wasn't me". This makes "T" laugh even more as he smiles and claps his hands with delight.
He's behaving much differently now than he was a few hours ago. Earlier in the day, Dr. Doo Hickey and I came by to see him. At the time, he was busy playing his video games. However, he seemed interested in seeing us, so we returned for another visit. During this second visit, he was available and willing to spend some time with us. It was such a delight to see this big teenage boy who is as big as me, smile and laugh like a small child.
Later that day, we visited the antepartum unit, where women get medical care before the birth of their child. The nurses gave us a few room suggestions for visiting. The patient in the first room we visited lit up when she saw us. The patient was there with her sisters. They weren't expecting to see two clowns with musical instruments in her room. They looked at us with cautious acceptance. We introduced ourselves, and the woman and her sisters introduced themselves. Then, they asked us to play a song. I started to play my ukulele version of the Curtis Mayfield song, "It's All Right,"The women looked at me with a knowing glance. They knew this song, so they joined in singing along to the call-and-response style of the song, "It's all right, it's all right, It's all right, it's all right,It's all right, have a good time because it's all right".
As they sang, I noticed their heads bobbing to the beat of the music. It's a familiar sight, something you can see at a concert or church as the congregation falls into the groove of the music. The early looks of cautious acceptance completely melted away as they fell into the familiarity of the music and of the feeling that the music communicates. Dr. Doohickey played along with his mandolin as they continued to listen to the music. After we finished this song, the patient's sister said the song was really lovely. Then she gave us a command. She said, "Play another song ."Hearing that, Dr. Doo Hickey played a few notes on his mandolin. As he was playing, the women recognized the tune. It was the opening guitar lick of "My Girl" by the Temptations. After hearing this familiar introduction, everyone in the room began singing on cue, "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day, when it's cold outside. I've got the month of May…" Everyone sang along to the familiar lyrics. We all knew the tune and were in unison singing to each other and for each other. As we were singing, the expectant mother began to tear up. Seeing the tears, her sister offered her a tissue while wiping the tears away from her face. The pregnant mother sang along even louder, "What can make me feel this way? My girl…"
These are my favorite moments of hospital clowning. They are the moments when we connect with patients and invite them into our world of play, imagination, and escape.